The new star of Vesperia
by chloemcg
Summary: Takes place a few years after TOV. Yuri and Estelle are married and are about to become parents and everyone is anticipating the baby's arrival, especially Yuri, but what happens when some bandits come into the castle and things go awry? YuriXEstelle
1. Preparations

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

It could not have been more peaceful than it was in the town of Zaphias in the Illycian continent.

It had been a full four years since the Brave Vesperia guild had saved the world from the Adephagos and the tower of Tarqaron and everything had become peaceful, albeit with the odd warring nation sprinkled throughout the continent.

True, nothing was perfect but this was the best this was getting.

A bit more peace befell everybody when the hero who saved the world, Yuri Lowell, had married Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein only two years later and, when it was first announced, nobody could quite believe themselves. It didn't take long at all for Yuri and Estelle to seriously fall for one another and they even had a bit of drama go on in the meantime —alas, that was a story for another time...

Yuri loved Estelle and Estelle loved Yuri, everything was grand.

_Thus, now there was a new chapter for them for them to explore on the horizon..._

The Brave Vesperia guild had become quite famous (after all they _did _save the world from Adephagos) and nobody could have been happier with the peace that accompanied their deeds.

Yuri was just happily visiting the Lower quarter, checking to see if everyone living there was prospering and if the AqueBlastiapowering the fountain was assisting the townspeople to complete satisfaction. He was relieved to hear that the people who had raised him were doing alright and weren't having to struggle so much...or at least, no more then usual.

The swordsman hadn't taken to a normal life as much as he'd expected, he'd been used to being on the run. It was hard to adjust, it still is, but he was certain he would get used to the changes just like he had to get used to not using the Blastia's anymore for everyday use.

He planned to speak to Hanks before he went to the castle to see Estelle, whilst he strolled he reflected on how his friends were doing:

Brave Vesperia was thriving.

Rita had gone back to doing some scientific research but on Spirits, rather than Blastia, since it couldn't be used anymore. She had made sure to stay in a nearby town to stay close to Estelle so she could be there when she needed a friend to talk to...even though she refused to admit any of this.

Karol had decided to do some official guild business, with Raven accompanying him, over in the city so those two were close by too. Yuri secretly suspected that Karol and Raven had also both come for a certain event but just used the "official Brave Vesperia" speech as a cover story.

Patty had decided to go about in hijacking the Fiertia that she could use to voyage the sea, that could also double as her home, and (after completing that task) she parked the large wooden boat in the Zaphias port so she could be present for the big event about to take place.

Judith had taken to being Brave Vesperia's courier alongside her partner, Ba'aul, like a duck to water. She travelled the world and if anyone had any inquiries or had any letters for the guild or the guild had letters for other guilds, she'd travel on her partner's back and fly all the way to wherever she needed to go. Due to the frequent letters updating her friends as she travelled, everyone was aware of how that she was happy during her tasks and that she was performing her duty alright.

The group had all decided to come and visit both Yuri and Estelle to help out until the "big event" had passed.

Yuri was thankful for all the effort his to his friends but he also felt a tad sheepish about it.

He wasn't used to asking for favours since he preferred to bare the worlds problems on his own two shoulders.

Anyways, the dark-haired swordsman sauntered through the streets leading what used to be his home. The sword he carried hanging from his hand and swinging back and fourth with each step. He breathed in the city air and it felt fresher then it had ever been and he felt happy to be able to breathe without much to worry about.

"Yuri!" A voice called out.

Yuri shook his head to snap himself from his thought and he focused his attention on a familiar old man whom came walking up to him. The former rogue smirked. Hanks was one of the people who helped raise him when he had been orphaned as a baby, he considered him as a fatherly figure.

"Hey, Hanks! How's everyone doing down here?"

The old man shrugged his shoulders in response, looking over to see some of the inhabitants chatting amongst themselves.

Apparently they hadn't noticed Yuri's presence.

"They're doing alright, working harder than normal but taking a break. Ever since the Blastia's had to be destroyed we have had to work to make something of ourselves down here."

Yuri nodded, feeling a bit bad for putting the world through this but knowing it had to be done.

Hanks asked, "So hows married life treatin' ya?"

Yuri reached a hand up and scratch the back of his head sheepishly, a rather embarrassed smirk blooming upon his face. His face was quite red, "Well, to be honest, it can be quite a pain at times...but it's kinda nice to have someone to come home to."

"And are you excited?"

The swordsman looked at the old man with perplexity for a fleeting moment until what the elder was talking about dawned on him and hit him like a ton of bricks. His eyes widened immensely and he had to snap his mouth shut to prevent his jaw from hitting the ground in reaction to the comprehension that suddenly overcame him.

"O-Oh, sure I'm excited...a little nervous...but y'know..."

The old man nodded at the younger man stood before him, a knowing glint shimmering in his wise yet old eyes. He put a nice and calming hand on the younger man's shoulder in an encouraging manner as he gave a smirk that caused his moustache to twitch.

"Now, don't worry, Yuri. I am sure everything will be alright."

Yuri just heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes.

"I dunno if I'm ready for such a big responsibility, Hanks,"

"Come now. If you saved the world, I'm sure you've up for any task."

Yuri slightly doubted this since the task they were discussing was seriously a bit more _challenging _and complicated then saving the world and all of humankind. He had to bite back a sarcastic retort to avoid getting an even more sarcastic comment back. He just rolled his eyes and decided to change the subject again.

The time passed quicker then it probably should have and it eventually came time for Yuri to return to his wife. He bid everyone in the Lower quarter farewell with promises to visit again soon with his canine sidekick, Repede, next time and he started to make his way home.

It felt like an eternity but Yuri soon found that the castle entrance was in his sight and smiled at the thought of Estelle waiting up for him.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't see two familiar faces...faces he'd rather not see right now...

"Yuri Lowell!"

Yuri stopped and his face flattened into a deadpan expression.

Tweedle A and Tweedle B, AKA Adecor and Boccos...

He felt his shoulders slump and he held back a sigh of frustration while also fighting back the very strong urge to rub his temples irritably. He _really _didn't want to deal with those two right now, but he found it peculiar that their leader LeBlanc was nowhere around —he silently shrugged to himself, maybe he was busy with other knightly duties?

The dark-haired swordsman looked at the two knights, closed his eyes and hung his head.

He was just about done with these two for the day.

"Oh, lucky me..." He grumbled, just loud enough for the two to hear him, "...I have to deal with dumb and dumber. Don't they have anything better to do then hound me?"

Boccos exclaimed in response, "How dare you!"

Simultaneously, the two drew their swords and pointed them at Yuri.

Yuri didn't react much. He was tired, he wanted to go home, he wanted to get some rest, but at the same time he also sort of wanted to have a bit of stress-relief, maybe he could muster a bit of energy. Sure he'd get in trouble but, he guessed, what did he have to lose? He exhumed a frustrated huff with a flare of his nostrils and he started to speak once more...but then a plan formed in his mind.

"I mean it, _this _is the reason neither of you will ever get promoted..._or win at the coliseum_."

The two knights looked at each other and then back to Yuri, their faces bunched up and reddened with rage as they scowled at the man who dared to torment them. The duo knew that he was referring to the fact that they entered the coliseum and were defeated...easily...repeatedly. True, they were finalists but it still bruised their pride. They looked like they wanted to give their long time wanted criminal a piece of their minds but were unable to do so.

"But I do say, you may be married to Princess Estellise but that doesn't give you the right to torment us...!" Adecor cried, actual tears of rage forming in his eyes.

"Indeed!" Boccos cried, "Yuri Lowell! In spite of the fact that you had been married to Princess Estellise for two years now, we refuse to take this disrespectful tone from you!"

Yuri grit his teeth but smirked wryly at the two of them, "Sorry, Tweedle A and Tweedle B, but I can't play right now. I've got a wife waiting for me at home. You know how it is?" He twirled his sword in his fingers before pointing the edge in the direction of his opponents. His gaze flickered between the duo and he gripped the handle tightly in his grip.

This was quite the dramatic stand-off.

The swordsman glanced to his left and sucked in a deep breath to get out the most exaggerated gasp possible.

"Oh, hey is that Captain Schwann?"

"I say! Where!?"

Without another second, Yuri took off like the wind, whirling right by the two confused knights.

* * *

The nighttime air was cool and contrasted perfectly to the summertime daytime heat, the full moon shone bright and the star of Vesperia shone bright —more bright then it had been before. The rest of the stars twinkled softly like diamonds and the skies were a dark navy blue, as deep as the sea.

It was a beautiful night and the nighttime air felt so nice and cool, like a face full of snowflakes.

Estellise stood out on her balcony with her gaze solely fixed on the beautiful star that she, herself, had named the guild Brave Vesperia after, she had stepped out to do a spot of stargazing and she couldn't help but find the starry night sky so beautiful. She couldn't help but glance down at the wedding band decorating her index finger...and then her eyes wandered down to the large, balloon-shaped bump protruding from her abdomen.

The place where she and Yuri's unborn child grew, to be exact.

Ever since she found out she was pregnant, she had basically been told to keep close to the castle in order to minimise stress and such. Rita even had to convince her for quite some time until Estelle finally decided to comply. She didn't like being cooped up like a caged canary but she also didn't want to put any strain or risk to her unborn child. Yuri had been quite lax and aloof (as always) about the whole thing and simply let her do what she wanted but also agreed that she should stay close to the castle just to be safe...although he _did _sneak her out of the castle sometimes so they could go to a meadow so she didn't get stir crazy.

She truly appreciated how Yuri helped her through all the trials pregnancy had to offer and loved her during it all.

It made her reminiscence on how she first met Yuri and how they journeys together.

She was so happy right now...

"Okay, Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein-Lowell, I am afraid you've broken the law."

Estelle turned around and saw her husband perched on the edge of the balcony, a rather wry and mischievous smirk plastered upon his lips —she noted the pronounced yet booming voice with the exaggerated elegant tone he used as he smiled at her. She couldn't help but giggle with pure amusement as she raised her hand and placed it over her mouth to stifle her laughter, still managing to respond.

"What for?"

Yuri wagged his brows in a flirtatious manner.

"For looking so beautiful that it's practically a crime..."

Yuri hefted himself on to the balcony before he sauntered up to his wife, kissed her on the forehead and caressed her cheek in an affectionate manner.

"Very smooth, Mr. Lowell..." She complimented when his lips parted.

"Touché..."

The two gazed lovingly into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity.

"Sooo...how's Yuri junior doing in there?" He asked, reaching down to rub his wife's huge abdomen.

He always liked to rub her stomach when he thought she wasn't looking and he couldn't help but feel all his worried melt away when he did so...but he also had wonder what the child inside her would be like? He guessed that his child would be kind and compassionate like Estelle but have his sharp wits, maybe he or she would be a combination of both him and Estelle? The possibilities were endless.

Estelle smiled down at her stomach fondly, watching her husband's hand stroke it tenderly.

"I think they are doing alright, they've been kicking up a storm since you've left."

Yuri chuckled warmly.

"Awww, the little one was missing their old man?"

The swordsman rose back to stand on his own two feet as his wife decided to strike up a conversation.

"Soooo? How's everything at the Lower Quarter?"

Yuri shrugged. "Meh. Everything's good, a bit of a struggle but they're still adjusting."

Estelle nodded but had a rather saddened smile. She knew that everyone would struggle for awhile to make up for the loss of Blastia but it was a price that had to come with getting rid of the Blastia's and Blastia cores. Still, it made her heart weigh a bit with guilt.

"I h-hope they aren't struggling too much..."

Yuri's eyes softened and he couldn't help but frown out of concern, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort his wife.

"Don't worry, they're tough. They bred people like me, right?"

Estelle couldn't help but roll her eyes at that but she also managed a heartfelt smile as she glanced at the swordsman with the dark, long hair. She bobbed her head gratefully at him for cheering her up whilst she eyed him gently and gave a sincere look that would make hearts everywhere melt like ice.

But, within a split second, a look of pain flashed across her face.

"Nnnngh...!" She groaned, her hands flying to her swollen abdomen.

Yuri immediately grew concerned.

"E-Estelle! What's the matter?"

She grit her teeth and hissed with pain for a few moments before she recollected herself and gave her concerned husband a reassuring smile.

"I-I'm okay, Yuri...it was just a kick."

Yuri quirked an eyebrow at his wife.

He was very sceptical and didn't quite believe the princess' words for a minute but, at the same time, he didn't want her to feel like he was worrying too much. She was prone to having false alarms before and he had already worn the whole thing like some sort of glove.

He sighed, opened up his arm to invite his wife in closer, and allowed her to lean heavily against his side.

He looked down at his wife's growing belly in worry.

He couldn't wait to just enjoy her presence and spend time with her before they got busy with looking after full-on nurturing a child of their own.

Not to mention all of the events that came with this such as Estellise's "habits" such as her mood swings which consisted of her mood going from laughing to crying to snapping within five seconds, her eating a ten course put in front of her and then asking for more, her complaints...it all was a bit of a pain but he loved her and promised he'd stick by her.

"C'mon, Estelle, lets get back inside and get some sleep. I know a certain princess who might need some rest."

Estellise snugged herself into her husband's side, leaning heavily against him like he was an ice cream dipper and she was a scoop of princess. She did feel quite exhausted and, admittedly, she just wanted to get some sleep...even though she couldn't help blush a bit due to the fact that she felt like her husband was treating her more like a child, but she knew he was just doing it because he cared.

She sighed tiredly.

"Alright..."

Yuri proceeded to gently escort his wife inside with her leaning heavily against his side, her eyes closed and her posture completely relaxed as she seemed completely content to simply be at his side. She had both hands resting atop her stomach and she had a glow to her face that made her look so beautiful, especially beneath the moonlight. Ever since he married her, he felt nothing but love for her, even though he found her to be a bit of a pain when they first met.

But, oh, how he _also_ couldn't wait to get some sleep and enjoy it while it lasted.

He couldn't fight back a gentle smile as he held her close to him whilst still walking back inside the royal chambers with her.

_"How did I get so lucky to be with someone like you, Estelle?"_ He thought to himself.

...But what nobody realised was that there were three dark figures lurking just outside the castle gates, just on the threshold of the city where the city barrier used to be.

They were looking up at the grand architectural marvel with malice and maleficence.

They were dressed in dark hoods, cloaks and masks to avoid looking too identifiable but they each also had different coloured eyes and weapons to tell each other apart: One had ice blue eyes with a dagger, another had indigo blue eyes and a whip that doubled as a grappling hook, and the leader wielded a simple sword and had dark scarlet eyes that glinted blood red in the moonlight.

"C'mon, lads," The leader said, "Let's get us a princess and her brat...it's time we got ourselves rich!"

* * *

**A/N: Here's another TOV fic beginning, I hope you guys enjoy it.**

**Wonder what these villains are planning...?**

**Now, I WILL make an official fic about how Yuri and Estelle get together but I'm still working on it. I mentioned this in my previous Tales of Vesperia fanfic -Music of the night- but I ship both Yuri and Estelle super hard because I think they are supremely adorable together.**

**Sorry if this is a bit clunky and clumsy, I written it as I played the game and I tried to tidy it up to make this look good.**

**I will make sure to add drama, fluff and some more fluff.**

**Don't forget to review and fave guys!**

**-Chloemcg **


	2. The infiltration

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

It was around just getting to midnight when it all started.

The royal chambers shared by Yuri and Estelle was dark and dimly-lit, the room had a gentle and quiet ambience that drifted through the atmosphere like a feather floating against the breeze.

The velvet curtains fluttered as a soft twilight breeze slithered into the room like a serpent via the small gap left in the glass door of the balcony that doubled as a window. The room had a ruby red carpet with vanilla-coloured wallpaper, there was a king-sized bed with a small cradle stood a foot away from said bed, there was a wardrobe made from mahogany put in a corner of the room, there was a desk where Estelle would sit in her spare times and write letters and there was so much more.

Both Estelle and Yuri slept in their huge, king-sized bed.

Quite honestly, it was the comfiest bed Yuri had ever had the pleasure of sleeping on. Seriously, he wanted to spend the rest of his life sleeping on this thing and never leave it. His comfort only increased whence he would have his wife snuggled up by his side and he subconsciously wrapped an arm around her out of both an unconscious need to keep her close and as a means of soothing his own soul.

The silence between them was golden.

Both the swordsman and princess lay in their bed silently, but the latter had a bad feeling begin to seep into her mind...it felt like her entire being was wrapped in a coat of snow; she felt dread begin to settle in her stomach and she had a feeling that it wasn't just her unborn becoming restless and kicking her. Estelle snuggled up to Yuri in hopes to quell those bad feelings but it did nothing, they only increased as the seconds ticked by and she tried to ignore it and resume sleeping. She couldn't get that alarm bell out of her mind and it bothered her.

Yuri, as though sensing this somehow, drew her even nearer while he moaned subconsciously as his head thumped softly back against the pillows and a soft breath hissed from his throat.

The couple finally started relaxing again.

...That was until the doors started to bang loudly from the outside.

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

Yuri's eyes snapped open when he heard the sounds, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes, with the illusional sound of glass breaking as they opened.

He reluctantly peeled himself away from his wife, slid out from beneath the blankets, slid his legs out from the side of the bed before he clumsily climbed to his feet, and hobbled over to the huge door with a zombie-like expression. He grumbled frustratedly beneath his breath since he despised being awoken at odd hours like this —especially knowing that it wouldn't be too much longer until he'd be getting up like this nightly for awhile and he wished to get all the sleep he could possibly get.

He lumbered clumsily with sluggish feet towards the large double doors and swung them open with one arm.

It was dark and it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to it until he could properly see a pair of guards stood there at the entrance of the doorway with frenzied expressions with Leblanc accompanying them.

Yuri slumped sideways to lean heavily against the left open door to avoid crashing to the ground due to fatigue, his long hair made it clear he had a bad case of "bed head" and had strands of it poking out at odd angles —especially at the top of his scalp. His eyelids were dark and hung heavily over his eyeballs thanks to the fact that he had just woken up and the best descriptor for his appearance like was that he looked like death.

"You'd better have a great excuse for this..." He grumbled whilst rubbing the crust from his eyes, trying to fight back a yawn.

"S-Sir!" One of the guard's saluted, a panicked look on his face, "Some men had broken into the castle! We have reason to believe that they are here for lady Estellise!"

Nothing could have shook Yuri from his groggy state better then those words and drowsiness was no match for him after that.

His heavily lidded eyes popped wide open and he could have sworn that his heart jumped high into his throat. He immediately kicked his brain into high gear and he looked at the guards as though they had just asked him to walk off of a cliff. He took a moment to process those words properly before he took charge and pointed to the two of them.

"W-Wha!? How many?"

"Three it appears!" LeBlanc replied, seeming to be a bit startled by the serious undertone in the princesses' betrothed.

Yuri nodded as he seemed fully awake now. He didn't consider himself a good leader unless he was helping Karol lead Brave Vesperia but he knew how to take charge when it was absolutely necessary. He pointed a finger at the trio of guards with a face as hard as stone and as serious as nothing that had never been, although his bedraggled appearance made it just a bit harder to take him seriously.

"Okay, alright, I need you to find Flynn and call the rest of Brave Vesperia into the room to protect and guard Estelle!"

LeBlanc started to raise an objection.

"But Commandant Scifo is busy with Emperor Ioder, trying to find other methods of unifying the guilds-!"

Yuri wasn't having it, he just narrowed his bloodshot eyes at the three and cut them off before they could dare speak up; he was exhausted and this was urgent. He barked an order at them with a voice booming like thunder accompanied by an undertone choked with urgency and fury, his eyebrows hardened just like his face.

"NOW!"

The guards quaked beneath the former's voice, except for LeBlanc who just looked stunned at Yuri's snapping at them —he wanted to snap back but decided against it seeing how stressed the swordsman was already.

"Yes sir!"

They started to trail down the hall to do as they were ordered...but something happened that stopped them dead in their tracks.

_**"AAAAAH!"**_ Estelle cried out suddenly, her screams shrill enough to make eardrums explode.

Yuri whirled around to face his wife with pure alarm on his face.

"Now what?" He thought.

"E-Estellise! What's wrong?!" The swordsman asked.

Estelle almost looked shocked since she knew that, ever since she got married to him, he only called her by her full name when he was terrified for her wellbeing. Her face was contorted with pain and she hung her head and chewed her lower lip to contain another eardrum-shattering screech. She clutched her bulging abdomen with agony and her face was beginning to have large droplets of sweat accumulate around her forehead. Her eyes squeezed shut yet tears gushed from her closed eyelids anyway.

She whimpered and grimaced from the shattering, ripping, pounding, thumping pain coursing through her like a torturous symphony of pain.

"The...The baby...I think it's...it's coming...!"

All the colour drained from Yuri's face as dread overwhelmed his senses.

This couldn't be happening...

Yuri felt his heartbeat skyrocket as he asked, his mind racing, "W-WHAT!? Ya sure!?"

He chewed his lower lip and narrowed his eyes. This wasn't good, he didn't want to leave Estellise like this when his baby was about to arrive but he also wanted to go and fight off the intruders personally...but neither did he want to leave his labouring wife unguarded like this. He shook his head subtly to himself, this wasn't how he wanted this to happen.

He didn't want this to happen —not right now— he wasn't ready!

Plus this was awful timing!

It took a sec for him to recollect his composure...or what he had left of it.

Yuri whirled on the spot so fast that he was facing the guards again in a flash and he also took the opportunity to grab his sword from its place on the wall, still safely secure in its scabbard, with an intense yet knife-like glint in his onyx eyes.

"SOMEONE PROTECT ESTELLE AND GET HER TO THE INFIRMARY!" He shouted.

He proceeded to unsheathe his sword from the scabbard and he started to make a mad dash out the door when he heard something that made him skid to an abrupt halt. He froze and felt his heart quiver inside his chest as he turned around to glance over his shoulder to find one of the most heartbreaking sights he'd seen in ages.

He spotted his wife whom looked absolutely frightened of whatever was going on.

She was struggling to stand up so she could try and chase her husband but the pain simply made her hobble until she finally fell to the floor with a squeak.

It was a heartbreaking sight.

Estelle whimpered, tears slid down her cheeks as she looked up at Yuri with her sweet turquoise eyes pleading for him to stay. Her lips quivered and her chest heaved in and out with panicked and pained gasps of breath. Yuri hated to see her look so fragile and vulnerable like that; her soft teal eyes glimmered with tears and her voice held naught but a weakened and frightened tremble.

"W-W-Wait, Yuri! Don't l-l-leave me alone...p-please!"

The former rogue stared at his wife with his onyx eyes slightly hardened and he could feel his rage and fury simmer a little bit along with a pang of sadness hitting him in the heart as he turned around and started to walk back towards the terrified princess.

Yuri wasn't going to let Estelle cry like that, especially not when she needed to be strong —just like she always was.

He slowly lowered himself to his knees so he could meet her on eye level.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey. It's okay, it's okay, don't cry. Everything's gonna be alright," He murmured soothingly whilst leaning forwards and gingerly rubbed his nose against her face affectionately, the tip of his nose catching her falling tears.

"Just try and stay strong, Estelle, for me and for our kid..."

Estelle was silent and still with the exception of her rapid breathing and slight sniffling. She clutched her enlarged stomach tightly and looked into her lover's deep, deep eyes that were deeper then any ocean she'd ever seen. She couldn't move much and all she could do was nod her head slowly with that look of terror plastered upon her face. She couldn't help but be frightened of what was going on anyway, but her fear amplified when she heard of that break in.

But, no matter how frightened she was, she couldn't help but relax a bit when she heard her husband's comforting and encouraging words. He was right. She needed to be strong right now, especially since she needed to be...now more then ever. She closed her eyes for a second to focus, reached deep within herself and dug up a bit of strength. The pinkette tried for a small half-hearted smile as she nodded her head in agreement, even though she still felt a bit frightened.

"...O-Okay..."

Yuri smiled softly as he exhaled through his nostrils to calm himself, reaching forwards to delicately brush her fringe out of her face before planting a kiss on her forehead.

He looked proud.

"Thatta girl," He encouraged with a hushed whisper, "Try and stay strong. I'm going to go and take care of this, just try and not have any babies without me."

He winked at her playfully, earning a breathless giggle from her in the process.

"Alright. I'll be right back..."

The swordsman was about to stand up again and do just that but was promptly stopped from doing so when Estelle grabbed hold one of the collars of his jacket. He was confused at first; why had she stopped him? She seemed really needy right now and that was not too shocking, but still...

Yuri got his answer fairly quickly when she leaned up and crashed her lips firmly against his and closed her eyes. He was a bit surprised at first but he ultimately closed his eyes and soaked into the kiss like a sponge absorbing water, kissing her back.

He would have been lying if he'd said that he didn't want to stay in that moment forever.

It felt like a whole century had passed until her lips finally parted from his and she smiled softly yet weakly, she looked exhausted right now and it wasn't nice to see her in such a state but she was very brave and her husband couldn't have been prouder to have such a lovely and courageous princess as his wife. His heart pounded hard.

The two smiled at one another, wishing each other luck for their endeavours.

"Good luck, Yuri..."

"You too, Estelle..."

* * *

**A/N: Oooooh, dear! Seems that the intruders had broken in.**

**Can Yuri protect those he loves?**

**What will happen next?**

**Stay tuned for more!**

**-Chloemcg**


	3. Enter the Poisoned Basilisk Fang

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

The sound of running footsteps swept ceaselessly through the pristine hallways of the tower as a familiar long-haired swordsman ran as fast as he could with his sword tightly clasped in one hand.

All Yuri could hear was the roaring of his own blood rushing throughout his head as he felt his heart pound with anticipation while he charged down the corridors, eyes narrowed. He tried to keep himself completely focused on searching for one of those individuals who broke in but it was all he could do to keep himself from panicking.

He just wanted to just get back to Estelle as soon as he could...he couldn't miss the birth of his son/daughter!

He tried to keep an ear out for one of the three intruders that had somehow snuck into this heavily guarded tower. He didn't know how this happened, especially since the Flynn brigade had taken up base in the capital (some of them had a sentry post back at Aurnion) and were filtered through the palace —Yuri had to guess that this was due to the baby's impending arrival.

The swordsman felt really annoyed about this whole thing and a unique mix of both worry for Estellise and fatigue just made it increase dramatically. His eyes were heavy and bloodshot red with dark circles around them, but he fought it off easily since this mattered way more to him then sleep right about now.

He couldn't wait to get his hands on those cowards...and then wring their necks like wet towels.

Yuri's mind was bursting with many thoughts at once and each one felt like a slap to the face with the impact of a meteorite:

He was about to become a dad.

Estelle had gone into labour.

Why were the intruders here?

What could they possibly be there for?

Could they really be there for Estelle?

What about the child she carried within her?

Why tonight?

Why did his child have to pick now of all times to be born?

This was the worst timing imaginable!

He felt a pang of regret hit him in the heart for leaving his wife all alone like that but he needed to so he could take down those rotten intruders whom broke into his home, but for what he didn't know. He really didn't want to leave Estelle alone like that, especially when Repede was out on his weekly stroll; he always liked to go out and howl at the moon on Mondays (only if the moon was out at all that night) and do what dogs were supposed to do.

He even did it during their journey four years ago and snuck out to spend time to himself.

Yuri hoped that his canine companion returned soon, though, and not just for the sake of Estellise's safety —he needed to have Repede with him so he didn't lose his sanity with worry over his child and wife. He stuffed his feelings deep down and just kept running down the hallways with his eyes perpetually scanning his surroundings to see if he could spot anyone lurking in the shadows.

But the further he ventured down the seemingly endless hallways, corridors, and passages he felt this indescribable sensation start to overcome him —it felt like his insides turned to frost, sort of like dread, and it made him feel a great deal of emotional discomfort.

It was so strange.

Yuri finally stopped dead in his tracks as the dread started to feel like a great oppression in his chest, it was as if his own instincts were telling him not to go that way. A lot of red flags raised in his mind and he had to wonder if this overpowering sensation of impending doom was just a strange part of this group?

The swordsman stood still as he felt that sensation increase, it felt similar to when that highly concentrated Aer had immobilised both him and his friends. It may have been four years since then but he'd never forget an experience like that.

"What's going on?" Yuri thought, his mind a fleeting mess of thoughts and questions that he tried to sort out in his head, "I can't move...I feel like gravity itself is trying to crush me...there's this eerily frightening sense of dread that I can feel brewing inside me. This couldn't be Blastia, though, since they were destroyed. But what is it then?"

Yuri tried to ignore those feelings and move on but couldn't since they were too strong.

His brain switched itself off when that feeling of dread lessened in severity but that feeling of snow encasing him in a cocoon increased just a little bit. The rogue's eyes widened in their sockets while his brows furrowed and he grabbed his sword tight in his left hand, it was gradually increasing while the rest just stayed the same when he didn't move.

"Wait. In fact, it almost feels as if..."

The ex-knight/swordsman thoughts were cut off abruptly when every alarm in his brain was screaming at him that he needed to do something and not just stand there. Yuri's eyes widened just a little more and he clenched his jaw as he grit his teeth, he started to realise that this feeling was —in fact— trying (very poorly) to sneak up from right behind him.

Time seemed to slow to a tortuous crawl.

With his sword still in hand, he twisted his upper body with his blade raised high whilst looked behind him to see a dark figure practically launching themselves off of the upper walls and tried to lunge at his opponent in what should have been a clean cut move.

Yuri, though, was prepared and had managed to block his foes sword with his own.

It took a few tense moments of sparks of friction flying off the pressure each blade before the more experienced, long-haired swords master had managed to push the offending sword back, knocking his opponent off balance and sent him stumbling backwards a few steps in the process.

It was dark but not even that was enough to hinder the swordsman's keen senses.

The man was slightly caught-off-guard as he landed on both feet whilst keeping a look of stunned gaze on the man he just tried to ambush. His pale blue eyes that were as cool as icicles were wide in their sockets and he kept such a tight grip on the dagger he carried that appeared to be his signature weapon.

Yuri just couldn't resist the urge to make a wise crack.

"That was cutting it awful close there,"

On the outside he appeared calm and composed (albeit exhausted) but on the inside he was a large knot of nerves and corkscrews.

Yuri did nor said nothing as he silently scrutinised the stranger whom he guessed was one of the three intruders. The man was wearing his hood so his identity was concealed for the most part but he was clutching his dagger in a tightly fisted hand. He looked to have quite a couple of weapons on him such as one or two extra knives attached to his leather belt, a large bow attached to his back with a small collection of arrows in a sling beside it —but those seemed more for decoration then anything.

The dagger seemed to be his primary weapon.

"You must be the hubby of the princess," The intruder cooed mockingly.

"What's it to ya?" Yuri demanded, narrowing his eyes at him, "Who are you?"

The master swordsman stood in a hostile and aggressive posture whilst trying to put on his best intimidating face possible and his exhaustion just amplified how cross he appeared. He didn't blink or take his eyes off of his foe, scowling at him with a glare that could turn someone to stone, as he took a watchful position. His onyx eyes were like needlepoints and he hardly ever blinked since he wanted to keep his guard up encase of some surprise attack.

"My, my, my. Is that any way to politely greet someone?"

All traces of agitated rage left Yuri's face for a split second as he blinked at the intruder in a blend of confusion, perplexity, and surprise. He had been thrown off guard because of that question yet he didn't have the time nor patience to deal with this right now.

"Huh?"

"Well, I expected a man married to nobility to at least have some manners,"

Then his previous facial expression returned when he regained his composure and returned to glaring at the intruder warily. What did he want him to do? He wasn't making it entirely obvious and he was already a bit cross from the whole situation. Plus, should he just follow along with this person? He didn't trust this guy as far as he could throw him.

Yuri couldn't hold back a sneer whilst he awaited for a spot of elaboration for a few moments.

"Aren't you supposed to introduce yourself first before me?"

It was at that moment that this intruder's smug face looked particularly punchable.

This guy and his friends had a lot of nerve. They wake him up in the middle of the night, broken into his wife's house thus sending her to go into labour, and now one of them had the audacity to act so smug in front of him. No matter how infuriated he felt, however, he decided that there wouldn't be any harm in telling the man his name.

"...Yuri Lowell." He grumbled.

The man smirked a wicked smirk and bowed at the long-haired swordsman in a mockingly civil manner in response as he introduced himself. He lowered the upper half of his body and swept his arm across his torso in a rather formal and gentlemanly manner.

"My names Slith, I am a member of the 'The Poisoned Basilisk Fang' guild." He paused for a moment and jeered boastfully, "I am the stealthy one out of my brothers."

Yuri blinked but retained his dark expression this time around. The Poisoned Basilisk Fang? He hadn't heard of that guild before, could they have been part of the Blood alliance? No, that had disbanded after Barbos' death four years ago. Could they just be a petty little criminal guild just trying to make a quick cent? But then why go to so much extremes?

Could these goons really be in a guild?

Slith started to scan his surroundings with ever-increasing confusion as he kept a tight hold on the handle of his dagger.

Yuri just shook his head and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in disbelief.

He still couldn't believe that all of this was going on. He facepalmed and scrubbed at his eyes to try and rid himself of the remnants of drowsiness that clung to him like a spider to a web. Maybe some late-night pounding would do some good, it had been some time since he got to do something like this. He rubbed at his eyes a bit more before he put on his best devilish smirk and he stared off his opponent.

Perhaps this guy could be made his stress reliever for the night and besides, he owed him a pounding or two for waking him up so late.

The "master of stealth" cat burglar (as he was assumed to be) took notice and took a battle stance to match the man with the dark long hair's own. Gripping the handle of his blade like his life depended on it. He also kept looking up at the walls and floors for some reason, as if trying to recognise it somehow.

There was something off about his behaviour...

Yuri seized the opportunity to comment about something fishy he'd noticed.

"Y'know, I noticed that you and your buddies spread out and separated. Not a smart move since you three would probably need to stick together to overpower Estelle and myself easier."

Thus an idea dawned on Yuri and he felt the gears turning in his mind, although his conclusion for this odd behaviour was kind of stupid. The long-haired swordsman stared at his opponent wide-eyed for a looooong few uncomfortable moments, until he asked him a question suddenly with an amused undertone:

"Wait a second...you're totally lost, aren't you?"

Yuri's suspicions were confirmed when the intruder just glanced off towards the side with a severe blush on his face.

Yuri blinked at one of the three men as though he just grew an extra head. Did these guys seriously have trouble finding their ways through the castle and had no idea where they were or where their "target" was? Did they really not have the foresight to just prepare a little better for this? As serious as this situation was, Yuri had to bite his lower lip to keep himself from exploding into hysterical laughter so he couldn't get off topic.

Yuri asked with his lips forming a squiggly line whilst he thought back as much laughter as he could, "Really, guys? Did you just break into my wife's castle without getting a good feel of the place first...? How stupid are you?"

The intruder scowled heatedly, face reddening even more with embarrassment.

"Sh-Sh-Shut up!"

He kept his dagger pointed directly at Yuri.

Yuri —in response— raised his sword once more, took it tightly into his grip, tossed it up into the air, caught it one-handed by the handle again, and then flicked the blade to the side so the scabbard came sliding off and discarded said scabbard to the floor.

He would have to worry later, he needed to focus for now.

He was prepared to defend his home with everything he had.

He was determined to protect his family.

* * *

_Meanwhile, in another part of the castle..._

The rest of the Brave Vesperia guild slept in their own individual rooms since there was a special guest quarters made just for them. Upon returning to her castle all those years ago, Estelle had managed to turn one of the many corridors into a large guest bedroom so the guild would have somewhere to stay whenever they came by to visit.

It was a good thing she did, too, because whenever they came by (which was fairly often) they would usually just crash on one of their beds and sleep for awhile to regain their lost energy.

Rita, Raven, Karol, Patty, and Raven all slept soundly in one of the larger bedrooms with sweet dreams churning throughout each of their minds as they snuggled deep into the beds that they were so fortunate to be laying in. As they were so busy helping the world repair itself after the huge events that took place four years prior, they had almost forgotten what sleeping in an actual bed felt like.

Their breaths were soft and quiet as they drowned in the bliss of sweet sleep.

Of course, the group were worried about Estelle and her baby so the just decided to stay close to her as they wanted to be there and support their friends and guild mates, and to help around with the newborn for awhile before they had to return to their duties.

Heck, the thought of there being a new member of the group (even though said member probably won't be able to do much for awhile) had brought a rush of exhilaration through the group.

Karol was just trying to mentally prepare himself encase it happens anytime.

Rita was the one exception for the excitement everyone else felt since she still didn't know how to feel about her best friend going to give birth to Yuri's child and she couldn't help but be nervous. She never even held a baby before. All she ever had was her isolation and her Blastia research for company. She wanted to be a supportive best friend, though, so she tried to simply suck it up and move on with it.

To put it short, everyone was excited about the impending birth.

"Nnnghffff..." Rita snorted as she rolled over to lay on her stomach so her left arm started hanging out from the side of her bed as well as her right leg. It took a second longer after her shift in movement that she relaxed and sunk even deeper into her slumber.

Everyone slept soundly through the night but were totally oblivious as of what was going on.

...This was the case until some rapid knocks reverberated through the spare bedrooms.

**"OPEN UP! BRAVE VESPERIA GUILD! PLEASE WAKE UP...! OPEN THE DOOR!"**

The racket caused by the yelling made everyone to awaken with a sharp jolt as they seemed to sit up from wherever they slept in unison with looks of tired and dumb confusion on their faces. Everyone was (somewhat) awake in seconds as they all snapped their heads around to stare at the door.

Even though they had just been awoken, they were all alarmed.

Rita shot up to stand on her feet, basically leaping out of bed and taking the blankets with her, and held out a red colourful orb towards the door —that orb she held made everyone uneasy and with good reason; she had gotten scarily good at crafting little gizmos to fight off monsters since

"Hey!" She shrieked heatedly, snatching an artes scroll fire formula from somewhere behind her as a fiery red circle formed on the floor beneath her feet as she got ready to summon some of her flames, "What's the big idea waking us all up in the middle of the night!?"

Raven lazily rubbed at his own eyeballs as he gave a yawn that would make whales jealous.

"Yeah. An ol' man like me needs his beauty sleep, Y'know,"

One knight and two guards had finally managed to get in through the door and noticed the mage giving them a death glare; she was silently demanding an explanation for this unprompted late-night visit. They realised that it was not great that they were being threatened by a mere mage...but this was Rita Mordio and they knew not to test the patience of a powerful mage like her unless they wanted to end up roasted and crispy.

One of the guards finally answered her.

"P-Please! Some intruders have broken into the castle and we have reason to believe that they have come to abduct her lady Estellise!"

And just like that, everyone was one their feet and looking supremely alarmed.

Rita had even dropped her magic scroll to the floor with a look of panic etched upon her face as her pupils shrunk into teeny dots inside her eyes. She looked as though she could barely process the news as she feared for her best friend; her heart had apparently fallen from her chest and down through the floor.

Raven took advantage of the momentary silence and tried to get more info.

"What details do you have on them so far?"

"Sir!" The imperial knight saluted Raven, much to the old man's dismay, "it appears that these are three individuals and we heard of them calling themselves the 'The Poisoned Basilisk Fang' guild."

Karol blinked incredulously but he also seemed to recognise that name.

"Wait. Did you say there were three? And they claim to be a guild?"

Patty nodded her head.

"Aye. Why? Do ye know those scallywags?"

"Back in Dahngrest, me and Raven heard rumours of these guys who've only recently started calling themselves a guild. I heard that they are brothers and they used to be petty criminals but then they formed their guild and started calling themselves 'The Poisoned Basilisk Fang'. They started pulling off big schemes to try and get rich quick but I hear that they are getting as strong, fast, and cunning as the old top guilds themselves."

There was a strong note of disgust in Karol's voice that nobody could ignore.

Alright, so that was covered.

Now there were more pressing issues.

Rita stood there with a troubled gaze staring non-blinkingly up at the rather bland ceiling. She had both hands folded behind her back and she piped up with a question that everyone wanted to know the answer to.

"But why do they want Estelle?"

Raven just shrugged his shoulders in response to the genius mage's question.

"Well, she is a princess..."

It was Judith's turn to speak up.

"I do not think it is Estelle they want, I believe that it is the infant she is carrying within her womb that they are seeking."

Everyone went so silent that you could hear a pin drop and everyone's faces turned so white that it put chalk to shame. The child? It was the child they were after? The thought of such a new and innocent life winding up in the hands of people who weren't it's parents sent violent tremors down their spines as they didn't even want to envision such a thing. They wouldn't dare take a babe away from them...wouldn't they?

Nevertheless, they were determined to keep this child and said child's mother safe from harm.

Alas the imperial knight and guards had more info to add.

"O-Oh Yes, and her highness has gone into labour."

Everyone shouted out in stunned unison.

"WHAAAAAAAAT!?"

"A-And you morons left her alone to defend HERSELF!?" Rita's voice raised to a roar with her face twisting and morphing whilst turning a dark shade of furious red. She grabbed hold of one of the guards by front of his shirt and almost lifted him up off of the ground with a scary amount of ease. Even with all the metal the guard wore, it was little to no effect on her whatsoever.

The imperial knight stepped forwards with a serious look on his face, even though it was slightly hidden by the helmet he wore. He hardly seemed shocked at the mage's surprising display of strength and if he was impressed then he was probably very good at hiding his emotions too well.

He spoke to the party with a patiently levelled tone.

"Yuri Lowell had given us strict instructions to find someone to take her to the infirmary and we did just that, nothing more and nothing less."

Judith walked up to Rita and gently pulled her off of the guard she picked up, causing her to drop him, grabbed on to her hand and seizing her by the wrist before dragging her out the door without another word. All of the group took to their feet and all barrelled themselves out of the door like a stampeding herd and they all took off as fast as their legs could carry them, each of them preparing to withdraw their individual weapons so they could better protect their friend.

Everyone was worried about what they'd discover when they got to the royal chambers.

Would they be too late?

"Hold on, Estelle, we're coming...!" Rita cried out.

* * *

**A/N: A third chapter for you guys, hope you enjoyed it!**

**Stay tuned for more.**

**Don't forget to fave and review.**

**-Chloemcg**


	4. Hidden fangs

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

It hadn't been too long since both Estelle and Yuri had been alerted to intruders in the castle and she went into labour, some of the guards left to try and arrange the midwife to come to the castle as soon as possible whilst a few others had stayed behind to make sure nobody else entered and nobody else left.

They posted themselves vigilantly outside of the doors leading to the bedroom chambers.

It was very difficult but the princess had managed to drag herself into a corner of the room so she could not only be more comfortable but be more out of view should one of those three trespassers try and force entry to get to her. She lay on the floor with her breathing quick yet laboured at the same time, trying to gain a semblance of control of his body. She couldn't deny that she was worried about the fact that she was giving birth in the middle of the infiltration of her home.

She couldn't help but begin to wonder whether or not her previous strong "kicks" earlier were not actually her baby trying to warn her that her contractions were starting...?

The pinkette threw her head back on the floor and looked up towards the ceiling frustratedly.

The pain was almost too much to bare, but she was determined to get through it. She looked down at her enlarged abdomen and rubbed at it in the most tender manner possible, even though the agony was tearing her apart from the inside out. She reared back to bite but she only bit down hard on the empty air, her entire body trembling. She felt so pathetic right now, especially as she glanced down weakly at her enlarged abdomen.

"H-Hold on...j-just hold on..." She grit her teeth, gasping with pain, "Daddy's...daddy's on his way..."

The pinkette Princess closed her eyes and tried to stay calm and quiet, which was easier said then done so she tried to think about something else to try and distract herself from the fears that coursed through her body along with the crippling pain that she was currently in.

She dragged herself near the bed and she lay herself down and tried to remain quiet as to avoid drawing anymore attention to herself.

She could also feel the unborn infant within her begin to grow restless as the kicking was unbearable so she tenderly rubbed her stomach in hopes it would calm the uneasy babe without another word. She could practically feel her child's fears inside her and she could feel her heart threaten to crumble; she had always had a soft spot for children and seeing any child so upset felt like a sword was piercing her heart —it only grew stronger since this was her own child.

She shook her head to herself and her face hardened a bit. She couldn't let her vulnerability get the best of her, she needed to be brave, she _was _a member of "Brave Vesperia" after all, and she was also about to be a mother. She needed to get a hold of herself! She fought many enemies before so this should not be as effective as it was.

Estelle could hear Yuri's parting words ring in her ears as she pulled out a bit of courage from somewhere deep within.

"N-No. Your daddy was right, I n-n-need to stay strong,"

Her eyes widened and her heart pounded when she suddenly heard something that made her eyes widen. She had to strain her ears to listen as she listened to the sounds of faint shouts and screams from behind the door. Those yells sounded abrupt and were quickly followed by a couple of hard thuds that sounded like a sack of potatoes hitting the ground.

Estelle gasped softly, her eyes falling on the door, was someone trying to get in?

What was going on?!

That was when realised that there was an ominous silence; there was no sound for a painstakingly long few seconds. Those guards who had been sent to watch guard the royal chambers, could they have been...?

Her eyes widened in pure horror at the implications of this.

Could the guards and knights truly...?

No!

She couldn't think like that!

She refused to even finish that thought.

They couldn't possibly have been...!

The princesses' thoughts were interrupted when she heard something else that made her cry out in fear; someone on the other side of the door was trying to burst into the room by ramming themselves into the doors over and over again, each bang sounding more loud and jostled then the last. She felt fear grip her like some sort of vice, sweat began to trickle down her face and whether it was from fear or from the strenuous effort she was going through right now, she didn't know.

She looked down at her balloon-like abdomen and placed the palm of her hand atop it before she oh-so gently rubbed it with the palm.

In spite of the growing seriousness of the situation, she wanted to reassure her child that nothing was going to happen while she was there. She felt nothing but love for her unborn child and every time she would rub her stomach and feel her child's strong kicks, it always made her smile and her heart grew with love...no matter the circumstances.

Tears oozed from her eyes.

"D-Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll protect you..."

Her calming words soothed her unborn but she, herself, was still a bundle of nerves and fear.

It didn't take more then another minute until the disturbing silence to shatter like glass as the doors burst open and in came a bandit with a menacing smirk creeping on his semi-masked face when he spotted her. He had this dark and sinister air about him that only increased when it turned out that the knights and guards posted outside the door had been incapacitated.

Estelle spotted the guards on the floor behind the intruder and felt her blood run cold.

Even still, she scowled as best as she could whilst still panting heavily.

What could this man and those other two infiltrators want?

"Ahh, there you are! Why don't ya come with me, your highness? We'll take care of your heir..." The intruder asked whilst whirling his grappling hook in one hand and placing the other atop his hip.

"No! Stay back!" Estelle cried in panic, grabbing a shield from nearby and holding it in front of herself defensively with one hand.

She was really frightened, she didn't want anything to happen to her future son or daughter and she was left in a really defenceless position until help arrived! She would grab her sword in self defence but, even if she could, she just felt awful and couldn't move too well. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried her best to scramble backwards, despite the pain she was in, and she whimpered out pleas to be left alone.

Normally she wouldn't be so scared but she had a tornado of emotions rushing through her head and it made rational thought really difficult.

She couldn't perform any Artes in this state anyway.

The shield was her best line of defence.

Estelle began clutching her stomach as another contraction wracked through her body, causing her to drop her shield to the ground, while she whimpered unintelligibly. The agony was indescribable and felt as though she had shards of glass inside of her, ripping her apart with each and every contraction she had. Not even the pain of being forced to use her power of Child of the full moon when the former commandant and leader of the imperial knights, Alexei Dinoia, could compare to this.

"D-Don't come any closer!" She yelped defiantly as she fixed the man with as best a scowl as she could. Sure, she felt scared and very emotionally vulnerable but she wasn't going to give in that easily —she fought so hard just to be able to make her own choices and she had enough of being treated like a pawn in others games.

This intruder didn't listen though, he just stepped towards her with what looked like a sack in his grip. Estelle said no more and just glared defiantly at him, her eyes watering, and kept panting breathlessly as she grabbed her stomach protectively as she watched the man come ever closer with his smirk widening with each second that passed.

She wasn't going to let any harm befall her unborn.

Yet, before the man could take another step, a blur of blue burst into the room like an explosion and intercepted the intruder by sinking his teeth into his leg. The man cried out in pain as he tumbled to the ground and watched with shocked and fearful eyes as his leg got bitten into.

Estelle looked up and opened her eyes when she heard the surprised yelp come from the man.

She smiled in relief when she saw none other then Repede.

The sword-wielding canine must have come back from his walk to find everything in disarray and had come in to check on his owner's mate and unborn —only to see someone approaching her menacingly. Of course Repede would interfere before he let anything bad happen and he would never let anything bad happen.

Words couldn't describe how relieved Estellise felt right now.

"G-Get off, dumb mutt...!" The intruder cried out heatedly with pain and anger, flailing his limbs.

Repede's muzzle wrinkled aggressively as he still had his teeth sunken into this person's leg, probably trying to both disarm the intruder and also stop him from taking one more step towards Estelle. He kept his jaws firmly locked and his one good eye was narrowed, his entire body was rigid with stern aggression. When the man finally regained his composure, he swung his leg forwards as hard as he could in an attempt to kick Repede off of him but the canine just catapulted himself into the air and landed on all fours a short distance away.

Repede wasn't going to let this man get to his master's mate.

Not without a fight!

He'd have to get through him first!

**"...rrRRRR...!"** Repede growled before letting out a loud and intimidating bark from the bottom of his throat, **"WOOF!"**

The intruder tried to walk around the defensive canine but it only matched his steps.

"Who do you think you are anyway...?" She moaned as she kept her glare fixed on the man trying to loom over her.

The intruder stopped and turned to stare at her. He had this cold and impersonal look on his face (despite that the hood he wore made it hard to tell which facial features were which). His indigo-coloured eyes glinted in the darkness of the room and his lips had become a thin line as his malicious smirk turned upside down into a rather cold frown. He put the sack back beneath his cloak and then produced his whip from his hood in its stead.

As he clutched his whip/grappling hook, the man answered the inquiry as he tried yet again to step around the protective dog that just bit him, only for said dog to keep his eyes trained on his every move.

"My names Slivero, I am the muscle of the Poison Basilisk Fang guild,"

Estelle blinked incredulously. The trio of burglars were...in a guild? She hardly even considered that to be a possibility, but then again it was quite likely now that she thought about it. Yet why would a three-person guild try and break into her home and then threaten her? To her, it made no sense.

"You are in a guild?" She gasped.

Silvero nodded.

Estelle's eyes grew watery as she started to plead, still wrapping a protective arm over her stomach. She tried not to let her lower lip quiver. Almost all of her fear was forgotten and was replaced by a sense of shock and negation as she felt a huge pang of grief —she had forgotten the fact that this person broke in and she was now wanting to know more.

"But why are you doing this? I thought guilds were supposed to do right by the world, not this...!"

"Well you may be in a guild, Princess, but that's not how guilds get things done nowadays. We are out for ourselves and nobody else matters!"

Estellise shook her head in dismay whilst a single tear slid down her cheek. Did some guilds honestly feel this way? Did they honestly become blinded by ambition and a need to get rich by any means necessary? And do such horrible things in the process?

She lowered her eyes, her bangs hiding her expression, and was silent for what felt like an eternity.

Then she finally looked back up at the man with this renewed determination —there was a look of pure seriousness shining in her teal green eyes. The princess was still was panting heavily and she still suffered from horrific contractions that sent her into fits of hyperventilating and sobs.

"N-No. I refuse to believe that. I believe that guilds are supposed to help and protect those who can't help themselves..."

The bandit clenched his teeth and scowled at her, storming up towards her with his grip tightening around his whip/grappling hook. His face was dark and could rival a dark storm that was beginning to roll in. His eyes held nothing but fury and his mouth formed such a long frown that it could have easily dropped right off. He stomped over to her. He loomed right over the princess, letting his shadow fall over her.

He twirled his weapon in a threatening and menacing way.

"You dunno what you're talking about! Look you just need to sit lay, still have that brat, and we'll be outta here."

Estelle gasped in horror as she scowled painfully up at the man stood over her, her abdomen causing her more pain. She squealed and whimpered as a sharp agony as she grabbed at her bump out of both a need to protect it and out of pain and she had nothing more to do to try and cope with the pain that seemed to tear through her entire body.

Taking advantage of the moment, Repede charged and then lunged at the man.

The blue-furred, sword-wielding canine grabbed Silvero's wrist in his maw and locked his jaws on the intruder for a second time. He screamed in pain as he tried to dislodge the dog from his wrist, much like he had done with his foot. Repede growled and snarled as he stubbornly clung on tight to his arm with his fangs sinking into the fabric of his sleeve.

The startle caused the man to drop his whip/grappling hook.

Repede eventually finally let go of the man after dragging him straight to the floor. The canine hardly hesitated in using his side to ram into the man's head and knocking him out unconscious.

It was after seeing to it that Repede had knocked him out that he bounded right up to her, pipe clutched in his mouth but his fangs ground angrily. He skidded to a halt in front of her and felt his ears fly backwards and the fur on his back raised as he stood in an arched posture right above the labouring princess.

He wasn't going to let anything, or anyone, get to her!

"...Repede..."

His stiffened body relaxed for a moment as he looked down to see Estelle still in pain on the floor, he leaned in closely and his nose wiggled in curiosity but his eyes showed silent concern. He calmed himself from all the previous anger and protective instincts from a second ago and just decided to give her a soft lick to her cheek. His long dog tongue dragged up her cheek, leaving behind a trail of saliva on her face, before it slipped back into his maw.

"Th-Thank you..." Estelle panted, reaching out to stroke the canine's head tenderly. She could feel the dog whine uneasily as she did this but he forced himself to stay still and allow her to pet him, even though he _clearly _didn't like it. He tolerated, though, since he wished to provide as much comfort as he possibly could to his Yuri's mate.

As if on cue, a loud chorus of shouts shattered the moment like glass.

"ESTELLE!"

Everyone barrelled through the double doors and barbed into the room, panic on their faces as they raced to their friend's aid.

Estelle relaxed considerably when her eyes fell on her friends, things were hopefully going to be alright now...she was happy that, at the very least, one enemy was down and out for the count. However she felt her heart quiver for some reason as she looked down at the place her unborn child grew once more. It was all she could focus on right now.

Rita and the others all had a quick study of the room and saw the current state of it.

"Shiver me timbers...!?" Patty asked in stunned shock.

"What in the name of everything happened!?" Raven added, just as shocked.

An unconscious man, a defensive dog, guards and knights on the floor deceased or unconscious, a woman on the floor, items knocked from their shelves, and a shield on the floor —It didn't take a genius mage to figure out what happened.

The group rushed to Estelle's aid when they saw her on the floor, still whimpering and moaning loudly from the pain she was going through. Her face was soaked with sweat and she looked as though she was in a lot of pain and it felt like she was being ripped up like paper on the inside out. Such pain was enough to bring tears to Estelle's eyeballs.

"Aw, Estelle...anything we can do to make you more comfy?" Rita asked, sounding as comforting as she could as she grabbed hold of her hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance. She couldn't stand the thought of her best friend being in so much pain, especially after being ambushed in such a delicate position like this.

Raven spoke up after some silence —with the exception of Estelle's shallow yet rapid breathing.

"Sooooo...whadda we do now?"

That was a good question. They couldn't leave Estelle in such a state and without no medical experience, as far as they knew they were supposed to try and drag her to the infirmary and get her checked out over there. But how were they supposed to go about doing that? It wasn't like they could just _escort _her to the infirmary, was it? Well...they didn't have much choice it seemed.

"D-Does anyone..._huff_..._puff._..know anything about childbirth...?" Estelle asked out in a moan born of pain.

After a moment of unanimous silence from the rest of the group, Karol replied with a shrug.

"No, not really."

Estelle huffed and puffed like a train blowing smoke. She kept grasping her stomach tight as she bolted upwards and clenched her teeth and hissed painfully, her brows quaking and furrowing and knitting together as she tried her best to get through the multiple contractions that shook her body with the velocity of an earthquake.

Rita grabbed one of her hands tight, Repede made himself useful by curling around her head so she could use him as a pillow, Raven knelt by the other side of her since he didn't know what else to do, Judith just tried her best to get a hold of some guards to help escort them to the Infirmary, Karol just sat on a bed whilst feeling helpless and Patty busy tying up the now-unconscious man who just slumped forwards on the floor.

The pink-haired Princess groaned and moaned as she writhed on the floor to try and make herself more comfortable. She eyed Raven when she noticed the elderly man knelt by her side whilst Rita was on her other side, but her focus was mainly fixated on the oldest member of the team.

"R-Raven..." Estelle moaned painfully, gritting her teeth due to the pain, "I'm...I'm scared, can you...hold my hand?"

Raven just looked at her a dumbfounded stare.

"Uh...? Sure, I guess...?"

He didn't feel very comfortable being around a woman in labour, especially with her being on the floor and being in so much pain, but he also couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He decided to oblige to her request, what could happen? It's not like it would hurt or anything...right? The older man instantly regretted it as he reached forward and took her hand in his. He felt her grip, he could feel the bones snapping, his hand was crushed beneath her vice of a grasp with a strength that could never have been anticipated.

"Holy...!" Raven grit his teeth so hard his teeth could very well have shattered like glass.

"G-Graaaaah!" He yelped, his face a full grimace, "Owowowowowowowowowowowwww!"

* * *

**A/N: Heres a new chapter, everybody!**

**Poor Estelle...lets hope she will pull through this.**

**What about the leader, though, will he be caught? What will Yuri do once the leader is located?**

**I hope you enjoy this.**

**Don't forget to review and fave!**

**-Chloemcg **


	5. Armoured hearts

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

Everything was a mess.

Raven had been left with his hand being crushed into powder, Karol was cowering in a corner of the room, Patty was sat on a nearby bed trying to distract herself by looking at pictures on the walls, Judith was just stood in a separate corner from Karol and just tried to avoid letting her face blanch and not projectile vomit everywhere, Yuri had gone off to take care of those other two confounded "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs", nobody knew where Flynn was, Repede was using himself as Estelle's pillow with a sword clenched in his teeth encase someone tries to break in, Estelle was wracked with pain from being in labour, and Rita was totally unsure of what she should be doing.

The mage gulped nervously.

She had never done anything like this before...!

Rita had researched Blastia for her whole life, only to start researching spirits and making little side projects four years prior. Even though she read very little on the subject of childbirth, she still felt inadequate to actually deliver her best friend's baby —it just wasn't on her list.

But they had to wait for the midwife to come and for the guards to keep the path towards the infirmary clear.

It would probably take a bit of time but, knowing that there were three people of a guild roaming about, trespassing, time would probably be against the group of Brave Vesperia. They couldn't afford to do nothing and waste time waiting for someone who could possibly ambush them when they weren't looking.

Estelle was struggling so much with her pain and agony of having a new life, it was as if her pains grew worse and worse as time ticked by.

This room wasn't ideal for her to give birth in.

They could do nothing but try and make their friend comfortable.

Judith went up to go grab a damp cloth from the sink and wrung it dry, letting all the wasteful water spill down into the drain. After making sure to wring the flannel cloth she held it carefully in both hands and walked hastily over towards Estelle in a somewhat panicked fashion. She passed the flannel cloth to Rita and hovered over her, trying not to look too worried.

The krityan woman wasn't too familiar with the concept of childbirth but she was going to try and assist however she could.

Rita kept trying to soothe and comfort her dear friend.

"Okay, okay," The mage reached over and grabbed hold of her friend's hand, trying to give it a reassuring squeeze, "Just stay calm and breathe."

Estelle panted breathlessly, huffing and puffing like a steam locomotive.

"I...I'm so scared, Rita...!"

Rita swallowed once more but tried for a reassuring smile. She softened her voice into a gentle and rather quiet tone to try and let her best friend know that everything was going to be just fine. She did wonder why Yuri couldn't have been the one doing this, though, since he probably would have been more qualified to deliver a baby then she ever was.

"Don't be, Estellise, we're all right here for you."

Estelle whimpered and gave an agonised groan.

"Uuuuugh! Where's..where's Yuri? Is he here yet?"

Rita tried not to sigh exasperatedly as she placed the damp cloth given by Judith on the labouring princesse's forehead and wiped away any lingering drops of sweat. She couldn't believe that this was happening like it was...and she was the closest thing to a medical professional right now, her being adept in books and research and all. Why couldn't Yuri be there right now, Estelle _needed _him by her side right now.

"No but he should be here soon,"

Estelle didn't say anymore but kept breathing and panting.

Raven kept gritting and grinding his teeth, so much so that he feared for his beautiful teeth shattering. His hand was being absolutely crushed and he was fairly certain that he could feel the bones in his fingers snap and crack beneath Estellise's ever-tightening grip as each wave of pain took over. Seriously, he had never thought he'd underestimate how strong she was alas here they were.

He didn't really like being put in this situation.

He just wanted her to let go of his hand and that was it.

"P-P-Please don't squeeze too hard! I need that hand to woo all the pretty ladies to my side!"

It was Patty's turn to comment as she rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

"Well, in that case, you can squeeze as hard as you want to."

"Heeeey! Don't be mean to ol' Raven n-AAAAAAAGH!"

It was as he was saying that, that the pressure began to build up yet again. He never expected Estelle to have such a vice-like grip and he was seriously beginning to think that before the night was done, his hand would become dust thanks to how much squeezing his poor hand was going through. He couldn't fight back a shrill squeak of a scream.

He hissed whilst trying to smile at her (but his face was just contorted with pain), "J-Just go with the paiiiiin...!"

"Just keep breathing, that's the most important thing right now!"

"Aye, we believe in you!"

Estelle kept on struggling through the severe discomfort that she was being put through. She'd been through pain before and had witnessed much suffering with her own two eyes but she could have never imagined that this level of labour was even a reality before now. She panted breathlessly to try and breathe through each and every little ache and pain that was sent shooting through her —however she also knew what reward came at the end of all of it.

She had to wonder, though, would she be a good mother...?

She didn't know yet but she was happy to have the support and encouragement of her friends.

She was shaken from her thoughts when she heard someone start speaking again.

"Estelle," Judith said in a low yet calming voice, "You need to bare through this for a bit longer, but we might still have time to get you to the infirmary."

Estelle closed her eyes and leaned back on the floor. Her face was still covered in sweat and her chest was heaving in and out in fast rhythms; she was probably in desperate need of medical assistance but there was probably still time to move her to a different location before things got too much and she had to deliver her child in the room.

Rita kept a tight hold of one of Estelle's hand and started to see if she could find any books strewn about on the bedroom floor. It was dark but the struggle from earlier made it so quite a couple of things were knocked from their respective perches up high. There could be something there. The genius mage gently removed her hand and started to move to see if there was something —anything— that could help make the situation any less bleak.

"Raven, stay with her. I'm going to see if there's anything useful in here,"

"U-Uhhh, are ya sure ya can't just...?" Raven started to ask but only to receive a hard whack to his head courtesy of Rita.

The genius mage snapped whilst giving him a chilling scowl that could freeze fire, "Raven. Just. Do. It."

Raven sighed as he started to nurse his own injured hand (he was sure that it was broken in some places) and he started to see what he could do by shuffling elsewhere, he grabbed her hand again...but he didn't last very long because he felt a realisation hit him much like a smack to the face. It was a thought so chilling that it made his skin crawl with goosebumps.

"I guess...I cant have any chances with...Estellise..."

**THUD!**

With that, Raven fell to the floor in a dramatic faint.

Karol just started to sighed aloud in frustration, facepalming hard. "Oh, are you kidding me?"

"And did you forget I'm married?" Estelle scowled angrily down at the fainted man whilst looking down at her own wedding band to emphasise this face to herself.

"RAVEN!" Rita screamed with rage and fury, grabbing Raven and trying to shake him violently awake. "WAKE UP YOU SAD AND USELESS SACK OF OLD BONES AND HELP ME HERE!"

It was no use.

Raven remained unconscious.

And for a stupid reason too!

Everyone's annoyance grew tenfold —things were getting worse, especially with Raven down for the count, and they knew that things couldn't get much worse from here. If they did then it would be the baddest luck to end all bad luck.

Every conscious person in the room lifted their gazes up when they heard something.

It was Repede.

Yuri's loyal sidekick snarled angrily, slipping himself out from beneath Estelle's head then he jumped up, only to land on all fours with his eyes glowering scathingly at the door with a blade (as well as his pipe) clutched in his fangs, his back arched and his fur raised into hackles. His stiffened tail swished back and fourth as he kept his complete focus on the doors.

Repede snarled with nothing but hostility dripping from every pore of his being.

**"Grrrrrr...!"**

The canine's sudden fixation on the door didn't go unnoticed and everyone else also looked up to see that someone was trying to gain entry. The atmosphere grew heavy and silent as the tension rose to the point that it felt as though gravity itself was trying to crush them.

Everyone got ready to battle, although they knew too well that they were ill-equipped for protecting.

Casting artes was still something everyone in the whole of Terca Lumireis was getting the hang of again without Blastia to help —they could still be used but it took a lot more effort then it used to. It would probably take a long time for Artes to recover, with the spirits to replace Blastia, but everyone was working on it and that was why weapons were much more relied upon.

Whatever was about to come was going to be a game changer, that was certain...

The doors finally opened after a few tense opened and everyone almost fainted with relief when a guards burst into the room. There were about four guard and two knights, they were Boccos and Adecor, probably dispatched from whatever they were doing to assist with the utter chaos that was shaking the tower tonight. They seemed both panicked but very well prepared at the same time.

"Lady Estellise!" Boccos cried out, "We have organised the midwife to await our arrival at the infirmary."

"Indeed! I say, you must come with us immediately!" Adecor added.

Then the two glanced downwards and saw that Raven was still unconscious, their reactions were immediate. They both cried out simultaneously as their eyes fell upon the man who they used to (and still kind of do) their higher up, they both seemed very panicked and alarmed as they stared at the limp man on the floor.

"Goodness gracious! Captain Schw...Raven!" Tweedle A and B almost called him by his old title but stopped themselves from doing so.

Judith sighed and shook her head as she stepped up to assure them.

"Don't worry, he just fainted. He'll be fine."

The knights and guards seemed confused. How should they react when their captain had fainted like that? They would have probably fainted too but they decided to keep their thoughts to themselves right now —lest their poor princess overhear and decide to go off on them like a cyclone of raw emotion. The imperial knights had learnt fairly quickly not to cross her when she was having her mood swings when her pregnancy started.

Regardless, they just went along with it for now.

Hopefully Raven would come to soon...

In the meantime, some of the guards had come in to take the one intruder away and towards the dungeon for questioning.

"Your highness." Boccos approached Estelle carefully and cautiously, "We have got the midwife and royal doctor awaiting your arrival at the infirmary."

Rita nodded her head with a note of urgency.

"We've got no time to lose, Estelle could get into the final stages at any moment..."

Adecor nodded at Rita and Judith and the others.

"Verily, I say! Let us make haste."

Rita and Judith went over to Estellise and started to try and get her to stand. Estelle pulled away from the both of them with tears still in her eyes, shaking her head, and refusing to get up. This was probably due to how much agony she was in. Everyone looked down at her with pure sympathy since they could see how much of a struggle this was and it broke their hearts to see their friend in such a position once again.

It reminded them of when she was being controlled by Alexei...

"It hurts, we get it," Karol walked over with a soft look etching itself on his facial features while crouched down closer to her so he could look into her face better. He was leader of the guild so he felt it was his responsibility to help put his friend's mind at ease, he offered a soft and sincere look whilst speaking with a kind yet tender-hearted voice.

"Don't worry. We're all right here. Yuri will be here soon and you'll finally have your kid, you just gotta be brave for a little while longer."

Estelle listened to Karol's words, her mind soaking them in like a sponge, and she realised quickly that he was right. She needed to summon some courage from deep within her once more because she had to be brave...for her child. Her child mattered most to her right now and looking down at her swollen stomach reminded her of that.

She finally nodded, albeit begrudgingly.

Thus it was without another thought that Rita hefted Estelle up, practically dragging her (Estelle) to her feet while letting her lean up against her (Rita) as much as possible. She couldn't deny that the princess was ridiculously heavy but she wasn't going to let that drag her down...literally.

Judith joined in by grabbing hold and supporting Estelle's other side, helping to hold her up. The p krityan woman hadn't expected that she would be doing this but she knew she needed to help her friend and do it carefully because of the child that rested within her. Yet, in the depths of her mind, she felt something was wrong with this.

This was all, by no means, a walk in the park but something about this felt...suspicious.

It felt too easy.

"C'mon, Estelle!" Said Rita through clenched teeth, "Let's get you to the infirmary so you won't have to give birth on the floor!"

* * *

**_CLANG_**

**_FWING_**

**_CLING_**

**_SHING_**

"You are good with a sword, Mr. Yuri Lowell!" Slith spat as he thrust his blade forwards.

Yuri clashed swords with his opponent, the two steel pieces colliding hard enough with one another to make another loud "CLANG" of a noise. His eyes were narrowed and his exhaustion was showing more and more on his face and in how his fighting was becoming increasingly sloppy. He _refused _to let this guy get the better of him, though, he needed to keep at it.

He and the man from the Poisoned Basilisk Fang fought viciously for what felt like hours.

Both swordsmen panted heavily to try and recover, but it was quite difficult at this point.

He smirked wryly.

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself..."

The two men just stared each other down and each wore a look that could curdle a herd of cattle; they didn't even seem to take a moment to blink. They just kept their eyes focused upon one another as they breathed heavily to regain the energy they lost sparring with one another —sword against dagger.

Silence reigned.

The only sound between the two was the noise of heavy gasping and panting.

Yuri leaned heavily against the wall as he tried to push himself back to his own two feet even though it was a difficult feat to accomplish. He tried to cling to the wall to push himself up but it made things a bit more harder, yet he was happy to have _some _support in his weakened state. He heaved himself up partially and his throat emitted a soft groan from the deepest depths of his voice box.

He whirled his sword in his hand and grabbed the handle, pointed it at his opponent and he charged at him again.

"HYAH!" Yuri went for the intruder, pointing the blade right at the man's throat.

However the man managed to dodge it as fluidly as possible and the battle resumed with just as much vigour and ferocity as before (maybe even more!) and they just kept going at it. Yuri couldn't believe that this was going on —he hadn't had someone was standing against him like this for so long, not since the big battle with Duke awhile ago.

It was both refreshing yet annoying at the same time.

The two appeared to be evenly matched...or this was the case until it appeared that Slith had finally regained some sort of upper hand and had decided to lunge at Yuri. Slith flew forwards and snagged hold of the collar of his opponent's pyjama shirt and proceeded to deliver several blows to his face, only using his dagger to somehow keep his foe pinned to the ground.

"Enough. Of. This!" The late-night trespasser thundered whilst slamming his fists into Yuri's face over and over again. "Just tell us where she is and I might just ask the boss to spare your wife!"

Yuri could feel each one of this man's fists collide with his face which were probably going to leave large dark bruises on his cheeks later on. He said nothing and just took each and every hit without saying anything —normally he would try and get some sort of upper hand in the situation but he knew that it would be best to just lay down and take it for now.

All he did was flash a dark smirk up at the man.

"The...The fact that you...honestly believe that I'd tell _you _where she is...just proves how stupid...you guys are...!"

Slith said nothing but he just grimly stared down at him, but not before saying nothing and gently pressing the tip of his dagger up against the jugular vein in his neck —it wasn't too hard that it would draw any blood but it was hard enough that it would hurt. The member of the "Poison Basilisk Fang" just scowled down at him with a look so empty that Yuri might as well have been staring death in the face.

"It's a shame. If you'd been a good little swordsman and done as I'd say then you could've lived..."

Yuri kept that same smirk plastered upon his lips but said nothing, his onyx gaze burned holes into Slith's soul as he kept that sword pressed right up against his throat. The knife hurt and he knew that if Estelle was there she would probably give him the lecture of a lifetime for putting himself at risk like this, but he felt his vocal chords vibrate with amusement.

Slith raised a brow of confusion as he stared down at his defenceless prey.

What was so funny?

"What're you laughing at? Don't ya realise you've lost?!"

Yuri responded by shaking his head weakly as he finally stopping chuckling to himself and he gave the most evil smile he possibly ever felt cross his lips.

"...I just needed to stay here long enough to distract you,"

Before the man could even register what was happening, he had quite a few knights fall on top of him and tackle him to the ground. It wasn't long until the dagger-wielding cloaked figure was completely restrained and received a hard knock on the head.

It didn't knock him out completely but the cloaked figure moaned like a hurt whale.

He leaned heavily against the wall as he tried to recover from his surprise attack from the imperial knights.

He seemed to have been caught completely by surprise.

"Uuuunnngh..." His head tilted from side-to-side with a constant wobble, trying to focus his gaze on the victorious long-haired swordsman. The knights still tied him up so he couldn't move much because of the fact that he was bound by his wrists, his waist, his upper abdomen and he had even dropped his dagger to the ground.

In spite of this, however, he had done something that took everyone, Yuri included, aback:

He smirked.

It was no ordinary smirk either.

It was a demonic, ominous, deranged sort of smirk that instantly set an uneasy atmosphere.

"You weren't the only one using distraction tactics, sir Lowell..."

With that, he slumped forward and passed out. He looked quite messed up and unhinged. But his words rang like a choir of winter bells he was dragged off towards the dungeon by several of the knights that had originally incapacitated him but his parting words left a bad taste in everyone's mouthes as they didn't know what he meant by that.

Yuri especially.

He had to wonder.

Was he being used?

How?

"Yuri Lowell!"

Yuri blinked. He recognised that voice from anywhere, although he didn't feel particularly pleased to hear it right now. Regardless, the woman who owned it had risen in his list of the people who tolerated mainly because she had started going out with Flynn...even if she had stabbed him once.

It was Sodia.

Witcher was there too.

"What're...?" He started to ask as he spun on his heel to look at the knight and mage rushing up towards him.

"What're you doing? Don't you guys normally hang around with Flynn?" He asked with blunted astonishment.

Upon looking more closely, Sodia seemed to have run all the way over here to try and track him down which he hadn't expected. Her face was red and she looked really out of breath as she tried to catch her breath from running as fast as she could to locate him through these dark hallways. Flynn's right hand woman simply replied with a breathless answer that came out more of a squeak then anything else.

Witcher looked exhausted too but Yuri's gaze was more focused on the woman looking ready to collapse into dust at his feet.

Didn't sound like her at all.

"Ummm...mind repeating that?" He asked, gesturing to his own ear for emphasis.

Witcher took a moment to recollect himself before he informed him of what both himself and Sodia came all the way up here for. "F-Flynn's on his way here as we speak. We managed to capture both intruders, one here and the other from your bed chambers..."

"And her highness is on her way to the infirmary right now."

Yuri felt instant relief upon hearing that...but something was off. He couldn't put a finger on it at first and he had to linger on it for a few seconds before something struck him as really odd.

"Wait. What about the third guy?"

"Third guy? Huh?"

"The _third _intruder! The guards told me there were three...i-intruders..." He trailed off when he started to realise something.

Witcher noticed his expression and became alarmed, even as he pointed out, "But we've looked everywhere and we couldn't find any sign of anyone else."

Yuri's face went supremely pale at that.

Did he hear that correctly? Were they telling him the truth? Was this some sort of joke because if it was then it wasn't funny in the slightest. Part of him wanted to laugh it off, to hope that if they laugh with him then it would definitely be the imperial knights pulling his leg; he knew in his heart of hearts that they wouldn't joke about things like this...nor would they joke about anything since the knights appeared to have no sense of humour whatsoever although bit of wishful thinking couldn't hurt. That third intruder...he couldn't be...

Sodia spoke up to answer Yuri's unvoiced fears.

"We're serious, Yuri Lowell, we caught two of the intruders but we can't find this last one."

The swordsman felt his heart stop dead in his chest and fall straight through the floor as the implications of this news soaked into his mind. All the colour drained from his face for the second time tonight as he stared silently at Sodia.

"A-And have you checked the infirmary?"

Sodia shook her head.

Yuri's stomach dropped.

That could only mean one thing:

This had all been a diversion!

"Oh no...no, no, no, no, No, NO, NO, NO!"

The swordsman whipped around on his own two feet and took off running as fast as his legs could allow.

He sped off towards the direction of the castle infirmary, hoping he could intercept the leader of the group before he could get to Estellise. His long mane of raven black hair blew behind him, fwishing and flapping about in multiple different strands. He couldn't stop now because if he didn't and the leader of the group got to Estelle in such a defenceless position, then things would probably end very badly.

Yuri's heart had jumped high into his throat now and was beating erratically at the thought.

Part of him was hoping that the leader of "The Poisoned Basilisk Fang" was lost and wandering the castle somewhere and, maybe, the others were with Estellise and could stop anyone whom got too close to her...however, this leader of theirs had already proven himself to be very cunning so Yuri was determined to get there as quick as he possibly could. So when they separated, it wasn't out of stupidity like he thought it was...or perhaps a bit of it was but the rest of it wasn't.

Either way, he had a feeling that the others were about to be ambushed!

He had developed a tunnel vision right in front of him so all he could focus on was the direction to the infirmary.

He had to get there before it was too late.

"Estelle! Hang on!"

* * *

**A/N: Here is a new chapter, guys, I aim to finish this fic by the time Summer holidays finished.**

**Can Yuri make it to Estelle in time? Will she and the others be able to get to the infirmary safely? Will they, indeed get ambushed by the last member?**

**Stay tuned to find out more!**

-**Chloemcg**


	6. The serpents hiss

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

Yuri found himself charging down the hallways yet again in blind darkness.

Seriously, he was so impressed with himself that he managed to recognise which hallway led to which corridor in spite of the place practically being a giant labyrinth. He was running on a huge burst of adrenaline and that mixed with the panic of Estelle possibly being ambushed made him run as fast as his legs had ever carried him —his onyx eyes were wide and his mouth hung open slightly as he panted to get himself to the infirmary before anything could happen.

His face started to sting quite a bit, though.

It was probably from the beatings he took.

But no.

That didn't matter much, all that mattered was getting to Estelle before...

No, he couldn't finish that thought.

He'd get to that should the need arises.

The long-haired swordsman never imagined that these would be the circumstances under which his firstborn son would be born. He wanted to have been with Estelle throughout the entire thing with his friends surrounding him and for it all to be relatively stress-free. He wanted it to be nice and quiet and enjoy it all while it lasted; Nope, it seemed that fate was out to get him yet again.

"Why can't I have one thing in my life go normal for once...?" He wondered, groaning agitatedly to himself.

He skidded to a halt abruptly, sliding forwards for a foot or two before coming to a complete stop and he started to glance around. He could have sworn that he heard something and the more he strained his ears to listen the more he started to realise that the sounds they were the sounds of footsteps...and they were coming his way. He had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from cursing his pretty bad luck.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer and, before he could even control himself, Yuri unsheathed his sword and got ready to slice anyone who came near. Could it have been the third intruder? Could there have been a fourth member of the Poisoned Basilisk Fang? He didn't know but he wasn't about to take any chances.

"Y-Yuri! Wait!"

Yuri blinked incredulously.

That voice...

He knew that voice!

He whirled to look over his shoulder and saw Flynn running up to him.

He smirked.

He guessed that the guards succeeded in pulling him from the meeting he was in.

"Yuri, what's going on here?" Flynn asked while trying to catch his breath from all the running he had to do to get there.

"A three-membered guild calling themselves the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" decided to break in to take Estelle and our kid. It seems we got the first two but I've got a feeling that the leader is hoping to ambush Estelle near or inside the infirmary wing. I thought about trying to intercept that snake so Estelle couldn't get caught up in this, plus she's in labour and I refuse to have my kid born in the middle of a fight!"

The two started to move on with slight haste to try and get to the infirmary before anything happened; the knight had recovered by this point but he closed his eyes and placed a curled finger to his chin thoughtfully, taking in the information for a few seconds, before he spoke.

"So you thought you'd try and shoulder the burden yourself...again?" The commandant/leader of the imperial knights had an accusing glint in his sapphire blue eyes.

Yuri tried to hide the blush painting his cheeks a bright scarlet red and glanced away out of embarrassment. He didn't think about the fact that he'd mostly done this with the intention of doing his lone wolf routine and thinking about it now, he realised that this was exactly what he had done. He had a feeling that "Boss" Karol would chew him up and spit him out for pulling this stunt even if he was doing it for what he thought was a good cause.

"And you're sure that these thugs are after lady Estellise and not after any treasures?"

Yuri shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure, especially since one of them decided to turn my face into a punching bag and threatening me to say where Estelle is..."

It was after Yuri pointed this out that Flynn had finally noticed how his childhood friend had been beaten up pretty badly. He had apparently received a goose egg-shaped swelling on his temple, a few dark bruises and cuts on both of his cheeks, his right eye was starting to swell up and darken in colour which would probably develop into quite the black eye and he also had a small cut on the bridge of his nose.

He looked as though he'd been hit with a bat repeatedly.

Flynn could feel his anger rising when he saw how much Yuri had been putting himself through. He couldn't stand seeing his friend throw himself into fights, especially since he was about to become a parent, the mere thought of him doing something foolish made this rage bubble up inside him. He recalled this hot-temperament easily, he only felt this way when he and Yuri were back in their days of training in knighthood, mostly when his friend had done something foolish...just like now.

"You are such an idiot!" He snapped, heatedly, "Why did you have to go and play hero?! You are a man, not an island!"

Yuri was both taken aback and caught off-guard by his friend's outburst.

He hadn't expected Flynn to yell at him like this, he didn't even want to go through this right now since he knew that he needed to hurry up and take this last guy down so he could be at Estelle's side when she needed him the most. Even still, he couldn't help but feel annoyed about this whole situation and he didn't exactly appreciate Flynn scolding him as though he were an immature child...just like he always did.

"I know that, but what else was I supposed to do? These guys are after my wife and child and you want me to just sit still and wait for that to happen?!"

Flynn shook his head so much that his spiky blonde locks of hair swayed with the moment.

"Of course not! But you need to get it through that thick, stubborn skull of yours that you don't have to carry everyone's burdens on your own two shoulders! Isn't that what Brave Vesperia was for —to help people who can't help themselves and to support one another?"

Yuri fired back, "I know that! But I do what I have to because I need-!"

He was cut off.

Yuri and Flynn ceased their bickering and froze, not taking another step.

It was that feeling of being wrapped in snow, the feeling that dread was brewing within their very cores and making them feel as though gravity was trying to squish them. It was a feeling so intense that it made the two men shudder inwardly as violent chills quaked down their spines.

"...Do you feel that?" Yuri asked, not moving a muscle.

Flynn glanced around to survey his surroundings but nodded.

"...Yeah, I feel it too."

A few tense moments passed, the two men flickering their gazes in every direction of the space possible to see if anyone was lurking in the darkness. They each had a horrible sense of foreboding overcome them and even though they didn't spot anyone concealing themselves in the darkness, that didn't ease or lessen their growing sense of impending doom.

Then it happened.

A shadowy figure leapt out from the darkest corners of the narrow space and lunged at the two friends with a dagger in hand, his cloak had covered his face —like his brothers— but it hung cover it to keep his facial features completely concealed, the darkness of the hallways added to this so he was basically cloaked by the shadows with the exception of his eyes.

Yuri and Flynn jumped back from each other to split up and move themselves away from the oncoming attack.

The shadowy figure, sword in hand, made a move to dive in the gap made by the two men and was like a bullet shooting downwards. Even though his face was unidentifiable the one feature that was visible were his blood red irises that seemed to cut through the darkness like a laser somehow. Even though his face wasn't visible, the obvious destain and fury was very much palpable.

Yuri and Flynn picked themselves off of the ground and dusted themselves off whilst being careful to never take their eyes off of the man who just tried to slice them in an underhanded surprise attack.

"How...? Getting passed Slith and Slivero was impressive enough, but how did you figure me out so easily?"

Yuri just replied with a simple, nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"Call it a hunch. I had a feeling that you'd try and get close to Estelle by ambushing her and my friends as they went down this way to get to the infirmary wing," An evil smile bloomed on his face as he gave a devilish wag of his brows, "So I decided to intercept you to stop you from getting anywhere near any of them."

Flynn and the leader of the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" just stared at Yuri in a mix of astonishment and incredulousness. Neither of them could deny that this was a very crafty approach he'd made and he must have thought hard about it but, judging by a few factors such as him having to do all of this panicked, he must have thought up with all of this on the spot.

"Besides," the dark-haired swordsman added with his evil smirk broadening by the second, "I noticed that each time one of you are close, we get this ominous feeling soooo...yeah, that was a dead giveaway."

It took a moment for the leader of the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" guild to stew in his own fury for a couple of seconds as he seemed to quickly realise that he had been manipulated in the same way he'd been manipulating everything else from behind the scenes this night. His scarlet eyes narrowed into slits and his face reddened (it could be seen from behind the darkness of his cloak) and a pretty large vein started to pulsate from the base of his neck.

Finally, the leader of the tiny dark guild removed his swords from its scabbard and let out a deep dark snarl of rage and he lurched forwards to try and catch Yuri off guard but the swordsman dodged it easily.

But what Yuri, nor Flynn, didn't know was that there were more surprises in store for them.

The duo were swift to regain their respective composures as they grabbed on tight to the handles of each of their swords like their lives depended on it. Their eyes settled on the man and they grit their teeth, getting ready to strike should their opponent move a single muscle.

They weren't taking any chances with this guy.

The cloaked figure simply made a hand gesture to himself whilst bobbing his head in a mock bow. He put on a honeyed voice that carried an ominous undertone that made both Yuri and Flynn really uncomfortable.

"My name is Ahiswar, leader of the Poisoned Basilisk Fang guild..."

Yuri never dropped his guard but did decide that introductions were in order.

"Yuri Lowell," The swordsman with the long dark hair jerked a thumb over in Flynn's direction. "And that's Flynn Scifo."

The leader of the intruders, apparently known as Ahiswar, just shot a curt smirk at both of them. He didn't seem even a little bit worried that these two would possibly defeat him and there was a good reason for it. He wasn't scared or worried in the slightest and that just made his eerie vibe much worse. He didn't even say anything for a long few moments, those moments just seemed to drag into eternity, before his insufferable smirk widened.

"Ahhh, so you must be the hero who saved the world and married her royal majesty!"

Yuri nor Flynn reacted to that.

They just glared silently.

All was sort of awkwardly silent until the boss of the Poisoned Basilisk Fang guild just snapped his fingers completely out of nowhere and that single click seemed to echo through the otherwise desolate hallway.

The two men who had been friends since childhood felt confused. What was going to happen? Why did he snap his fingers like that? Was he trying to summon something? Did he have an ace up his sleeve that neither of them quite knew about? Just what did he do that for?

Those very questions were answered when four black shadowy figures emerged from the shadows.

They practically slithered out from the darkness and they let out several twisted hissing sounds, they were long and serpent-like judging from what little could be seen of their actual forms but their eyes had yellow whites with blood red diamond-shaped slits for pupils.

Their eyes illuminated in the dark so that made looking at the four creatures a bit easier.

These creatures had rugged scales covering their bodies, cobra-like hoods sticking out from just below their neckline, four legs on each one of them, a crystalline tail, a dome-shaped head, a snake tongue that poked out from time to time, and they had razor-sharp fangs that stuck out from their upper gums and poked out of their mouthes. Their fangs dripped with this green liquid that dripped from their ivory tips and made the ground bubble and dissolve wherever it hit until all that was left were small holes in the floor.

It didn't take a genius to recognise what that liquid was.

This couldn't be happening.

These were actual Basilisks!

How did they end up inside the capital, let alone the castle!?

How these things were even smuggled inside, neither Yuri nor Flynn had a single clue.

Ahiswar suddenly spoke up.

"How do you like my little pets, Yuri Lowell? Aren't they precious?"

Yuri noted the fact that he was crooning to the four monsters as though they were like innocent little puppy dogs and each passing second this infiltrator was in his presence, the more he just wanted to punch his lights out. The group of serpentine-like reptiles hissed at both Yuri and Flynn with that same green liquid dripping from their fangs and glowering at them with looks that would paralyse five muscular human beings.

Yuri took a few steps back out of pure instincts, only to feel his back collide against Flynn's and the two stood back-to-back, each holding a sword by the handle in both hands.

The two couldn't help but be reminded of their days in the order of the knights; they would fight together and encourage one another just like friends should, even though their conflicting ideals and temperaments made this a bit difficult. When they would fight together they would always find themselves with their backs to each other as they fought their own individual enemies. Neither Yuri nor Flynn could fight back the sudden reminiscence that flowed through their minds and hearts at the same time as they each clasped at their swords as though they were their most prized possessions.

It seems fate had decided to make them fight together once again.

They each cast cursory glances to one another before thrusting their own bodies into the heat of battle.

Whilst Flynn tried to fend off the Basilisks, Yuri handled the man known as Ahiswar.

Yuri growled as he squared off against his new opponent alongside Flynn, never taking his eyes off of him, hardly even blinking. He felt a gigantic rush of adrenaline flow through his bloodstream and it took every single shred of willpower to not rush this guy and use the edge of his sword to slice him into ribbons.

He had a feeling that Flynn was one of the biggest reasons he managed to keep his cool.

The rogue swordsman with the long dark purple mane of hair had charged at the guy without another word and locked swords with him. His blood boiled as he grit his teeth and he squinted his eyes in agitated infuriation at the man whom dared to wreck the night of his firstborn child's birth. As he swung his sword in every which way to try and disarm

He needed to know what this man and his brutes really wanted

"Why...Why are you doing this? Would you really go this far to get some quick money? Or is there some ulterior motive to all of this? Just why?"

The leader scoffed.

"Why?" He repeated, "I'll tell ya why. Do you remember a man called Zagi?"

Yuri couldn't help but roll his eyes at the mention of that name.

Of course he remembered Zagi, that crazy assassin who originally been called out to kill Flynn but had gone bonkers trying to defeat Yuri instead. Zagi ultimately ended up being bested by the swordsman time and time again. Yuri saw him as little more of an annoying pest who couldn't leave him and his friends be.

"Power-crazed lunatic of a pest who wouldn't leave me alone and always wanted to fight me until he ended up dying? Yeah, I remember him..."

The leader of the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" seemed to grow agitated and angry upon hearing that blunt response —him clenching his fists on both sides was a huge indication of this. Even though his face remained concealed and hidden in the combined darkness of his cloak hood and the darkness of the corridor, the pure rage radiating from every pore was growing more and more intense by the second.

He spoke again after a few more moments of awkward silence between both himself and Yuri (Flynn had still buried himself with taking down the Basilisk).

"Were you aware that, before all of this, this little organisation of ours was a four person guild?"

Yuri blinked yet his expression remained un-caring.

The leader took the silence as his cue to continue.

"Once upon a time, Zagi used to be a member in the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" and then he decided to branch out on his own. He was our older brother and we all aspired to be him before he joined those assassins, we weren't aware of everything that was going on, but it was then that he decided that he wanted to kill you which eventually became an obsession of his."

The leader lowered his gaze as a sullen expression took over.

"Throughout his lifetime, we were all called worthless and so he vowed to become an assassin to prove those neigh sayers wrong. He was so preoccupied by his occupation as well as trying to kill you, it drove him mad; it was hard but our little family organisation limped along."

"But then..._you killed him!_"

The moment he put a massive emphasis on that last part of that sentence, all of the Basilisks had turned to face Yuri with their fangs still dripping with what definitely appeared to be acid mixed with its venom. They all hissed aggressively and smacked their tails against thin air like a bunch of whips.

Yuri just rolled his eyes and feigned a large yawn.

"Can you quit the whole cliché villain act? You're boring me to death here..."

The two men —the swordsman and the boss of some criminal guild— resumed swinging their swords at one another, only for the other person to block the attack with extra precision. The two were relentless in their attacks of one another and their sword fight was getting so intense that it was causing both of them to sweat profusely.

Yuri whirled his blade in his hand before he pointed his own sword right at his foe.

"So wait," Ahiswar said "you ain't surprised?"

Yuri shook his head whilst looking just about done with this.

In the meantime, Flynn was still trying to dispatch the quartet of Basilisks, which was really difficult no thanks to how they kept spitting acidic venom at him time and time again —he almost got some right on his shoulder but managed to narrowly avoid it. It was difficult but with three swings of his sword, the commandant managed to stab two of the Basilisks —thus killing them easily.

Flynn did lend an ear to the conversation, however.

"...Aren't you the slightest bit intimidated?" The man asked in exasperation whilst stopping to look at the swordsman with a strange look of infuriated intrigue, "Not even impressed?"

Yuri raised a snarky brow, not looking very impressed at all.

"Seriously? When you've joined the knights as a teenager, slaughtered a monster that merged with a lot of war dogs and absorbed material items, helped take down a lot of scum and villainy, uncovered some insane plots and cover-ups, unintentionally kidnapped a princess, become a fugitive by the imperial knights, fought a battalion of monsters, fought against the Entelexeia and changed them into spirits, travelled through the entire continent, changed the world as we know it, and saved it, destroyed the adephagos, wielded a giant sword and sliced it through space, and a load more —there ain't much that can phase you anymore..."

A really mischievous smirk plastered itself upon his lips.

"The only thing that's scary about you is that your face is apparently so ugly that you have to wear a stupid black cloak."

"Be quiet, you...!"

Yuri threw his sword up into the air and then caught it with one hand and pointed it at his foe yet again. He wagged his brows at Ahiswar and his devilish smirk widened at the thought of taunting this guy some more but he was just anxious to get a move on so he didn't miss out on the birth of his firstborn son/daughter. He chuckled quietly to himself when he decided that he finally had his fun for now and started becoming serious.

"Let's just get this done, shall we?" He asked.

Ahiswar nodded concurrently, eyes narrowed.

"Let's."

* * *

**A/N: Heres a new chapter, guys, and I made sure to add a few savage roasts.**

**Lets hope that this villain will be defeated next chapter and we might get to see his intentions for why he wanted Estelle and their child if you stay tuned. I hope I'm doing okay with this fanfic so far, I am trying to make each person not too out of character compared to the game.**

**If you have any suggestions about how I can improve this, please let me know.**

**-Chloemcg**


	7. New hope

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

"Hissssssssss!"

"Sssssssssss...!"

A small duet of hissing and growling emitted from the two remaining Basilisks as they rattled their tails in preparation to strike, their fangs dripping their acidic venom like water dripping from a melting icicle.

Flynn squared off against them as he gripped on tight to the sword which was in his clasp, his sapphire blue eyes were firmly locked upon his targets as the remaining duo of snake-like monsters hissed and spat at him with their backs arched and their tails rattling like mad. He gnashed his teeth as he prepared himself for the fact that they were about to lunge right at him.

After a couple of seconds, they did just that.

Simultaneously, the two Basilisks charged towards the knight.

Their mouthes were wide open as they somehow managed to latch on tight to one of his shoulders —thankfully, Flynn was still wearing his pauldrons so the monsters couldn't even try and inject their acidic venom into him. They just snapped at the piece of metal and screeched in monstrous frustration as they nommed viciously away at the firm and heavy armour. They just seemed angry that they couldn't inflict any damage to their prey while he was wearing metal, especially not unless they wish to break all their teeth.

The leader of the imperial knights seized this moment and took

He started to shake his shoulder in an attempt to dislodge them, even though they weren't able to bite down on his arm he could feel the acid soak in through his armour and start to leak in and touch his arm. He hissed silently as the acid burned his shoulder a little bit but tried to ignore it and just shake these monsters off of him..._literally; t_hey stubbornly clung on for dear life either way and the longer they sunk their fangs into the knight's shoulder the more acid seeped through his armour.

"Hey, Flynn!"

Flynn blinked when he heard his own name.

He looked just in time to find that Yuri had (somehow) not only procured a spare dagger from somewhere but had tossed it right towards the Basilisks still clinging on tight to the leader of the imperial knight's shoulder. The knight in shining armour turned just in time to see that the blade ended up lodging itself in the side of one of the two remaining Basilisk's necks and it fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

The blonde knight sighed with relief.

_Three down, one to go._

Sword at the ready, Flynn decided to lend a helping hand to Yuri since the last Basilisk had apparently been knocked out for the time being. He kept a very close eye out just encase it decided to give him a surprise attack, though, since he knew that he couldn't leave anything to chance...especially since he felt the acid venom sting his shoulder.

Plus there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Why are you after her highness Estellise? What do you want with her!?" Flynn demanded as he swung his own sword and crossed it with the opponent he and Yuri now shared.

The leader of "The Poisoned Basilisk Fang" guild used his one sword to block the two swords that were now aiming for him, blocking the two with as much strength as he could muster. He scowled at the two friends with a knife-like glint shimmering in his blood red irises and he frowned, even if it was malicious yet crooked at the same time.

The effort and strain was tremendous but he doubled down.

The pressure of the three swords was becoming so intense that sparks were flying from the friction of each sharp blade pressing against one another.

Yuri grit his teeth as he kept applying pressure against the blades.

"NNnnngh!" The master axe/sword master moaned as he used as much effort as he could for the moment, however his ear did perk up when the leader of the "Poisoned Basilisk Fang" guild responded to Flynn's prior inquiry. His onyx eyes lit up like lights while he tried his hardest to keep trying to disarm his foe in the midst of all of this.

"That's quite simple...we want the heir of the Child of the full moon,"

Yuri blinked a few times as those words sunk in. How could this man have possibly known about the children of the full moon? How did they get that knowledge? As far as he knew the only ones who knew were himself with the rest of Brave Vesperia, Duke, as well as a very select few. Thanks to the spirits, Estelle's powers as a child of the full moon had been quelled. This boggled his mind quite a bit until the rest of that sentence sunk in and he realised exactly what words had _just _left this man's mouth.

He stiffened like a statue and his body became numb when the words hit him like a ton of bricks dropping down from up high.

The _heir_ of the child of the full moon...

Yuri froze completely as he felt his breath hitch in his throat.

He couldn't possibly be talking about...!

Ahiswar took the silence as his cue to continue, although he sounded more boastful now.

"The brat the pathetic princess is having right now is certain to give us a pretty large sum of Gald. I wonder how much the little heir to the throne will cost us? I bet it'll be such a handsome sum and my brothers and myself can live like kings. Or perhaps we should just take it and make it part of our guild! The brat's talents are wasted with you two, especially since it's the son or daughter of a Child of the full Moon."

What this crook vehemently suggested next smashed the swordsman's calmness like a rock shattering glass:

"Perhaps I can take the little parasite off of you when it arrives and we can raise it to be the most perfect warrior...?"

Yuri's eyes suddenly widened and he had this look of instant yet intense rage on his face.

Were they _seriously _talking about his potential son or daughter being sold off like some pretty diamond or something like that? Was that all they ever saw this baby as? A means to get rich quick or to take away from its loving family!? His blood became volcanic hot as it rushed through his body and his heart pounded violently in his eardrums.

He gripped his sword ever tighter as he ground his teeth aggressively.

Every last hint of calm had just been tossed out of the window.

Bloodwrath had taken over.

It was as though all of the slightest semblance of happiness had been sucked out of the atmosphere and replaced with this intensity that surrounded Yuri like some sort of bubble. His eyes were as dark as his surroundings, his whole body stiffened, his stance shifted from tired and leaning against a wall to straight and practically unmoving —with his sword hand as an exception.

It was...unsettling.

"You will NOT take my family away from me...!" Yuri growled with a rather demonic hiss, eyes wild and full of hatred. He somehow managed to slip his sword right out from under the final intruder's blade and he clanged his sword against his opponent, eyes wild.

The intruder had a rather frightened glint his eye to replace his previous smug one as he tried his best to ward off the flurry of sword attacks coming from the enraged swordsmen. He tried to block the attacks but ultimately ended up with his sword being knocked away as it was sent flying off out of reach.

Then he was sent hurtling to the ground with a loud thud.

Flynn, in the meantime, had refocused his attention on the final Basilisk and had to resort to stomping down hard on its rattling tail to try and prevent it from trying to flee anywhere.

The monster hissed and let out loud screeching sounds as it scrabbled and clawed to get away. The leader of the imperial knights hardly even hesitated in drawing his sword and running his blade through it, instantly ending its life and he watched as the life drained from it and it finally stopped moving and slumped to the ground motionless.

He sighed with momentary relief.

That was the last Basilisk.

He felt a bit of a burning sensation due to the acid burning through his shoulder plates but, thankfully, it wasn't too bad.

Now he could help Yuri fight that final intruder guy.

But what he saw when he turned around made his blood run cold.

Yuri was standing over the fallen intruder menacingly, his shadow looming over him as a dark aura surrounded the man he considered as his very best friend.

Flynn couldn't quite see into the master sword/axe-wielder's onyx eyes but he could already imagine them being cold and emotionless yet with the flames of vengeance swirling within. It was a thought that sent more chills down his spine. The knight had abandoned the freshly-killed monster and decided to observe to get a quick read on the situation, even though this was all raising _huge _red flags in his mind.

Alarm bells were chiming inside his head.

"You wanna get to my wife and child, huh? Do you know who I am?" Yuri's voice trembled with dark contempt as he raised his sword over the now-defenceless leader of the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" guild in a threatening manner, "I've taken out guys like Ragou and Cumore. I've even taken the life of Alexei...you don't _really _wanna see how I pulled that off, do you?"

It all dawned on Flynn immediately.

Ever since Estellise had gotten pregnant, Yuri had been shadowed by this overpowering fear that he'd lose his wife and child. Not to mention his silent worries over him being a good father or not. Of course he never let it show but the fact that it was there was as plain as daylight. Flynn knew Yuri better then anyone so he could see how such a worry would bother him but he never thought he would let such a fear rule over his emotions.

Until now, that is.

"Oh no...!" The commandant knight gasped.

He had a feeling he knew what set this off.

This couldn't wait, it was his time to intervene!

He decided to act without a second thought as he lurched forth, grabbing hold of Yuri's left arm and trying to restrain him and prevent him from actually killing the guy. Yuri was caught off-guard but he still tried to lunge forwards and attack the man who dared talked about his wife and child that way. As Flynn clung to Yuri, he could sense that he had the objective to make sure the man lay dead in front of him before the night was over.

"Let...go of...me...Flynn!" He yelled out through grit teeth while he struggled, flailing his arms around to try and break free from the knight's strong grip.

Flynn shook his head stubbornly in refusal. He wanted to try to talk some sense into his friend before he did something he'd (probably) regret later. Whilst he clung on tight to Yuri's arm, he couldn't deny that he was sort of impressed with how much of an effort restraining him was. Seriously, it was quite a struggle because of how strong he had suddenly become.

Perhaps this was the strength that having a family could give someone?

If the commandant of the knights had to guess, Yuri's sudden case of blood wrath could just be the result of his fatherly instincts kicking into high gear.

"Yuri, you gotta listen to me...!" Yuri listened to Flynn's words but still struggled as he tried to march up to the cowering snake of a man, "Killing him will _not_ help her royal highness nor will it help your unborn child! You have to focus on them first, you promised you weren't going to kill anymore unless you had _no _other choice! What would your family think!?"

Flynn kept on trying to calm the swordsman with the long hair down, determined that he could hopefully try and reason with the pestilent Yuri Lowell. He probably was subconsciously trying to reach for his axe although he didn't have the time to grab it before he rushed off to go on this one-man charge; the knight could feel the rage radiate from the ex-knight and, he had to admit, he felt a bit unnerved by this level of rage.

He could feel Yuri's resistance lessen so he continued talking.

"Yuri. I _promise _that, as commandant, I will not let the likes of him or anyone else take your child! These intruders won't get away with it and that is a solemn vow, just please calm down and think rationally for once!"

Yuri's fury seemed to simmer a bit as he finally ceased struggling against his best friend but still had his gaze fixed entirely on the man cowering on the floor in front of him and judging by how frightened he appeared, he probably had the same appearance as though he was the physical definition of death itself. The formally smug and leader of the petty criminal guild had gone as white as chalk and was trembling quite violently, he looked like he'd stared death in the face and his piercing red eyes had dulled.

It was as though all the life had been sucked out of him.

Yuri's hardened face was never-faltering as he took a deep breath in to keep his composure and glared down at him with a hateful scorn. He felt a tad regretful for his behaviour a moment ago but he wasn't going to let this slimy piece of scum get away with all the turmoil he and his companions had caused tonight —he just scowled icily down at the man who was mostly responsible for helping make the night of his firstborn child's birth very chaotic, and had the intention of kidnapping said child.

He had his obsidian eyes narrowed into a darkened scowl, his facial muscles were tight, even if they were bruised and starting to swell.

Even though he couldn't slaughter the guy, that didn't mean that he planned on making him get away with anything either. He and his group had come to take his son or daughter and he was not only furious but also curious as to why? They said that this child was the heir of the child of the full moon. True, if emperor Ioder wasn't getting married or having any children then the child would probably be the next candidate for the throne...but there was more to that, he felt it.

Besides, if anyone were to come and invade his wife's castle on any occasion then he would normally want to make them wish they had never been born and then make them regret their life decisions up until that point.

He would become their worst nightmare.

However now he was just tired and exhausted, he wanted to just get back to tending to Estellise and take some time to lick his wounds.

He'd done enough damage tonight.

"Z-Z-Zagi...forgive...forgive me..." Ahiswar mumbled numbly and brokenly.

Yuri was silent for a lengthy few moments before he asked, "You wanna avenge your brother, right?"

A moment of silence passed.

"...I'd suggest standing on your own two feet for awhile and do something productive with all that persistent energy that seems to run in your bloodline...you and your brothers..." Yuri's voice was as cold as an Arctic wind from the Crystallands and as firm as a brick wall.

Yuri made a start to begin walking away to leave the scene but instantly turned around to face the fallen man and, much to everyone's shock, he withdrew his sword once more and pointed it at the leader of the band of men who broke into his home and caused so much havoc.

"I will say this once..." Yuri spoke in a low, ominous voice as he pressed the edge of his sword right against the man's throat, "...**_NEVER_** come after my family again."

The last intruder just gave a feeble nod before slumping to the ground in a heap.

Flynn responded almost immediately. He rushed to the fallen man's side and pressed two fingers against his neck to check for a pulse but breathed a sigh of relief when he found one, quite a strong one too. The blonde pulled the unconscious man up and made him lean back against the wall whilst he also got to work in tying his hands up behind his back with some rope he just so happened to grab as he was on his way there.

In the process, Ahiswar's hood slid off and his face was finally revealed to the two men, even if it was still dark in the corridor. In spite of his piercing red eyes, he looked almost exactly like Zagi with pink and blonde hair that looked both slicked back and spiky at the same time. He had a slightly stocky frame then what would be expected and he had one or two scars marring his face.

He truly did look like a relative to Zagi...but less unhinged.

Flynn and Yuri breathed collective sighs of relief.

The guild known as "The Poisoned Basilisk Fang" had finally been subdued.

It didn't take too long until more of the imperial knights and a few guards had arrived to collect their newest addition to the collection of morons who dared to break and enter the castle tonight; Flynn was tasked to stay behind and oversee that the process of the group being moved down into the dungeon and was also convinced to stay behind to get his new acidic wound checked out by a royal physician before going anywhere.

Yuri looked at his friend with a silent look of anxiety and worry.

"You should go ahead to the infirmary, Yuri, I'll be down with you shortly..."

"But what about you? You sure you can handle it?"

Yuri didn't mean to sound like he didn't trust his friend but he couldn't help but feel the need to help somehow. He just felt guilty about leaving all the mess for his friend to clean up —he was very anxious to get back to his wife but he just needed to be sure that he wasn't leaving any unfinished business behind.

Flynn smirked at Yuri reassuringly.

"Just go. Trust me."

So, reluctantly, Yuri rushed off but he felt like a bundle of nerves and organs. He was sure that his adrenaline rush from before was finally beginning to run out and leave his system because he found that his hands were beginning to shake and the injuries his face had received were really beginning to sting now. Perhaps while he was at the infirmary wing, he could get checked over.

He didn't care about himself right now, though, he just needed to get to Estelle's side as soon as possible.

* * *

_Five minutes later..._

The group that consisted of the Brave Vesperia guild, some of the knights and one or two guards had successfully escorted Estellise through the dark hallways and down towards the infirmary wing where the doctors and midwife awaited her arrival. They had been warned to go a different route by Flynn in foresight so they managed to get Estellise to the infirmary where she could hopefully have her baby without any extra stress.

She kept asking for her husband, though, and they felt terrible that he would probably miss the actual birth of his only child.

The instant they arrived, Estelle was ushered inside and nobody had seen her since.

The only sounds that were heard were her occasional screams and cries.

They all wished to go inside but were forbidden from doing so. Originally they had huddled close to the pink-haired princess, with Judith and Rita holding her up, and Raven walking about three paces behind them; the old man looked a bit out of it but he _had _just regained consciousness after fainting so it was expected.

Ever since then the group had taken to standing anxiously outside the infirmary wing door, waiting for news. There wasn't any more activity as far as anyone knew until Yuri raced down the hallways as fast as his legs could carry him with the rest of the Brave Vesperia group awaiting his arrival.

"Did I miss it? Am I too late?" He asked in an urgent tone.

He had decided to rush to the infirmary to check on his wife while Flynn, Sodia, Witcher, more of the castle guards, and the knights, including Leblanc and the other two numbskull knights, Boccos and Adecor, had stayed behind to take control of the "cleaning up" effort of the guys who broke in. Quite frankly, Yuri wished he could have ended that one guy on the spot but his friend's words still rang loud in his head like chiming bells.

Plus he needed to focus on his wife and child right now, nothing else mattered.

Rita instantly glowered at him the second she laid her gaze upon him.

"Where were _you_!?" The genius mage demanded, "You almost missed your firstborn child's birth...!"

Yuri just retorted dryly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just fighting against the bad guys who wanted to kidnap/kill my wife and kid...it's not like that was important or anything."

Rita just harrumphed and folded her arms across her chest moodily. She couldn't argue with him there but even still, she didn't like how things had gone this way. She also didn't appreciate the sarcastic response but couldn't say anything against it because she would have done the exact same thing if she were to ever find herself in that position. She couldn't help but fret over her best friend, though. It had been awhile since any sounds were heard.

Karol stepped up.

"We hadn't heard anything for awhile, we think that maybe the doctor will come out to-"

"Mr. Yuri Lowell?"

Everyone stopped and turned to face the soul owner of the voice and found that it belonged to the royal physician whom stood at the doorway of the infirmary wing and he had a rather pleasant smile on his face.

The doctor was a bespectacled man whom had short brown hair and wore a white coat —he kind of looked like a generic doctor, to be honest, except with an eyepatch covering his right eye.

Yuri stepped forwards.

His whole body was shaking yet he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"Her royal highness is ready for you, and she has someone she'd like you to meet."

Yuri felt his heart pound with anticipation. There was...someone waiting for him...his child, Estelle had given birth to his child...he couldn't believe it. He was a father now, wasn't he? He felt really weak at the knees and his spine trembled and quivered as he just stared numbly at the door. He wasn't a man who would faint at the drop of a hat, nor was he a man who would just chicken out...but he was a man who couldn't move a muscle yet his mind was pumping a billion thoughts at once.

He just stood there staring at the doctor in pure disbelief.

"C'mon, Yuri. You aren't going to keep her highness waiting, are you?"

Yuri finally managed to move himself and whirled his head.

He recognised that voice...!

He turned around to confirm his suspicions and found that the captain of the knights was walking up to meet the group with a rather confident smile worn on his lips. Seeing such a smile on the blonde knight's face looked so foreign to everyone who knew him.

Yuri had to blink several times to confirm what he was seeing.

He thought Flynn was supposed to be helping taking those fiends down towards the dungeon and then going to get himself looked at after that venom seeped through his armoury. Yuri never thought that he'd _ever _see his friend go for the option where it meant putting aside something so important for later.

That was his job!

"Flynn! What're you doing here?" Yuri exclaimed in surprise, "I th-th-thought you were going to get that wound checked out!"

The leader of the imperial knights couldn't help but smirk at his childhood friend.

"Well, _someone's _gotta make sure you don't faint and freak out like a big girls blouse."

Oh, how badly Yuri wanted to make a sarcastic retort to that but now just wasn't the time.

He managed to give his friend a rather unique look that had the scowling eyes of someone who just wanted to smack their friend else upside the head for saying something dumb but had a slight smirk on their face due to both how they appreciated that friend's efforts in trying to cheer them up in an intense situation.

Yuri started to make his way towards the door with his whole body shaking and trembling, he made a valiant effort trying not to let his fear show but it was a futile effort all the same.

The long-haired rogue had stopped at the doorway because his legs refused to cooperate with him anymore once he reached the threshold of the infirmary wards. He barely acknowledged that his best friend stood right beside him.

"Y-Y-Ya know, it's funny...I was once a knight, I fought all kinds of scum and villainy, and now I'm afraid to go into a room..." He said, not moving an inch.

Flynn sighed as he placed a hand of encouragement atop his friend's shoulder.

It was time.

* * *

**A/N: It seems that the Poisoned fang guild has been defeated and now Yuri can be with Estelle and meet their newborn. Lets see what happens next, shall we?**

**Prepare for adorable fluffy times ahead, guys!**

**I hope you guys have enjoyed this fanfic so far! **

**-Chloemcg **


	8. A little warrior is born

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

Yuri couldn't recall any other time he'd been so scared in all his life.

It was not really a great secret that he liked children and all but he was about to meet his firstborn child and that was one of the most scary moments he'd ever have to go through.

His heart stopped dead in his chest as he crept into the room and his eyes had to adjust to the darkness of the room once he entered, the atmosphere was stifling and he felt as though his insides had froze over with a unique mixture of fear and excitement. He was a father now...and he was the father to the newest heir to the throne.

He was afraid if he'd made any noise then he'd disturb the peace in the room.

His heart was pounding so hard that he felt that it would just about burst out of his chest, his hands were trembling, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, his mouth was dry and his eyes refused to shut (even to blink) since he was afraid that if he closed his eyes and opened them again then he'd wake up in bed and this would all be a dream.

This all felt so surreal.

He crept closer and closer, trying to keep his steps silent, and found Estelle laying in a bed in a corner with a little something wrapped in blankets. It didn't take a genius to guess what exactly it was wrapped in those blankets and it was something that made Yuri's pulse drop but he kept slowly creeping closer and closer.

He strained his ears a little bit when he heard Estelle's voice.

"...In the days of old, a great cataclysm occurred that plunged the world into ruin. Countless lives were lost as people struggled to stand against the oncoming disaster. It's energies all but spent, humanity's hope seemed lost when a pair of siblings appeared. This brother and sister together fought the calamity, and saved the world from annihilation. The sister they called Child of the Full moon. After the struggle, she remained with the earth. Her brother they called Brave Vesperia and he ascended to the skies to watch over the world..."

Estellise's voice was a soft and soothing whisper as she cradled her newborn.

Yuri froze on the spot like a deer in the headlights when he realised that he recognised this story. It was the tale of Vesperia and the children of the full moon, one of them being Estelle herself, and he couldn't help but feel nostalgic when he listened to that tale since it was the same tale as the one behind their guild name. Plus her voice was so sweet and tender that just listening to her tell the tale like that almost made him fall straight to sleep on the very spot he stood upon.

Estelle cradled the bundle in her arms, swaying it from side-to-side rhythmically as she spoke softly beneath her breath.

She finished her story and smiled lovingly down at her newborn.

"...The end."

Yuri finally made both of his legs work once more as he traipsed over to his wife's bed and bent down to give her a soft, tender kiss on her forehead.

Even though he didn't do as well as a job as her, he could practically feel her exhaustion radiating off of her body as he got close to her. She was vaguely aware of her husband stood next to her, leaning over to admire their new bundle too; his gaze as soft as hers as the two admired their newborn.

The infant was wrapped in several blankets and cooed idly as it freed two chubby arms and reached out to touch Estelle's face, albeit with little to no focus or control. She studied her child with gentle turquoise eyes that glinted softly like the stars in the sky. She just held the precious parcel as close to her as humanly possible, her eyes were overflowing with tears and her lips were quivering and quaking as she smiled widely.

She couldn't look more in love if she tried...

After a minute, she placed her complete attention on her husband as she lifted her gaze to look up at him.

Estelle's short pink hair was sticking out at odd ends and had been reduced to a frizzy mess, probably due to the horrendous effort she just went through after carrying an infant in her abdomen for nine months.

Yet, needless to say, when she saw the state her husband was in, she grew alarmed.

"Goodness, Yuri...! Are you okay? You aren't hurt are you?"

Yuri shook his head and smiled softly at his wife.

"Nah. I'm actually feeling a lot better now that I'm with you,"

He was curious of the infant and leaned in to have a closer look and he realised quickly that it was so small and delicate.

It was such a tiny, pudgy thing and was wrapped up in several blankets. It had small dark purple tufts of hair covering its head with pink highlights mixed in and it had tan skin. It had rosy cheeks and teal eyes that looked too familiar, too. The baby was pretty much the spitting image of Yuri but with some pink tufts in its hair and it's mother's eyes.

Yuri's eyes couldn't help but tear up a little bit as his heart pounded hard in his chest.

"O-Oh my..." He breathed, keeping his voice hushed and low. That was all he could say because he just couldn't make his voice work very well...not if he wanted to avoid breaking down right there on the spot and keep his dignity.

Estelle giggled at her husband's reaction and smiled warmly at him.

"Meet our son, Yuri..."

The swordsman leaned in closer to examine his newborn son. He drank in every inch of the boy, from how teeny and diminutive his hands and feet were, to the tiniest of freckles on his face. He looked so small, so fragile and so teeny; his face was like some sort of squishy potato with facial features. He could also make out some small wisps of hair that was like his own (but a lighter shade) but with pink highlights tinting it.

"Well..." Yuri gulped nervously, "...H-Hey there."

He had been so floored by seeing something so small and vulnerable that came from him and Estellise's love that he almost didn't notice his wife begin to cry as she lay in bed with her face starting to grow red and her body growing tense and shaky.

When he did notice, his smile dropped immediately.

"Estelle..." He gasped softly with his eyes softening with compassion, "What's wrong?"

"I...I n-never thought that this day would come..." Estellise said through a quivering lip as huge tears filled her eyes and slid down her cheeks. She tried to blink the remainder of her tears back but they just flowed right through anyway, she held her baby boy close to her as though she never wanted to let him go for a second. She nuzzled the infant close to her as she elaborated, "I never thought I'd become a mother..."

Estelle squeezed her eyes to shut out the tears, but they just poured out even more and rolled down her cheeks relentlessly. She felt so frightened that she would not be a good mother, the thought alone terrified her —she would rather die then see her precious baby suffer for whatever reason, she may have not had her child long but she was willing to do anything for her precious bundle.

Yuri saw this and spoke to her in a soft whisper.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey...it's alright to be scared." He soothed, "and you wanna know what?"

Estelle sniffled, shuffling the babe into the crook of one of her arms as she used the back of her hand to try and dry her own tears. She tried to contain her tears but she supposed that her emotions were running rampant right now, especially after _everything _that had happened tonight.

"Wh-What...?"

Yuri smiled a gentle smile at his lover.

"I'm scared too."

Estelle looked up and blinked at him incredulously. He was scared? Yuri Lowell was afraid? She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe her ears, she was sure that her jaw had dropped by now. She was even more sure that her look spoke volumes as her husband just chuckled softly and gave a single nod as if to confirm that he was, indeed, telling the truth.

"R-Really...?"

"Yeah. I'd deny it if you told the others but...I'm a bit nervous about this all too."

Estelle just blinked. Yuri never outwardly showed any fear, or at least, she couldn't recall when he did. He always seemed so strong and like he was made of iron that hearing him admit that he was frightened of _anything _made her brain stall for a moment due to pure disbelief. She knew how brave her husband was and knew that he was no machine without emotion. Despite this, however, she couldn't help but glance back down at the bundle she carried in her arms with those same salty tears streaming down her face.

Yuri noticed how she still seemed a bit on the weepy side and _oh-so _gently slid a finger beneath her chin and used it to gently tilt her head up so they could see each other eye-to-eye.

"Look at me."

Estelle couldn't look at him...until she heard his voice again, a bit softer this time.

"Just look at me."

Reluctantly she obeyed and looked at her husband in the eye and his eyes were just as compassionate and protectively sheltering as they had been since the first time they'd met. It was that same gaze that had melted her heart since it was a gaze that had promised to always help keep her safe. His deep, obsidian eyes which would always guard her.

"Estelle, you are one of the bravest and most selfless people that I've ever met. Everything you do is basically for the benefit of everybody else. There have been times when you put yourself in a state of just about to keel and pass out over just so you could heal other people whom are hurt."

He leaned in and wrapped his arm comfortingly around her and held her close to him.

"I couldn't think of anyone better to raise any kid of mine,"

Estelle finally smiled a bit at that as she just leaned in to his hold, closing her eyes and melting in his embrace.

Yuri smirked softly.

"I'm so proud of you, Estelle...you did incredibly well."

Estelle smiled tiredly.

"Th-Thank you..."

She also noticed something as she reopened her eyes for a moment before closing them once again and she decided to point out her realisation.

"You know, this reminds me of the night when you and I had our talk before we fought the Adaphagos..."

Yuri realised that Estelle was right. This moment did make him recall back four years ago to that night where they had their heart-to-heart chat and it was also the night when they officially first became a couple and they declared how they wanted to stay together. True, there was a bit more involved this time but it was the dawn of something new for the both of them and for everyone.

The two just stayed in each other's embrace for a few moments more until Yuri decided to change the subject again.

He asked whilst glancing over to his wife, "Sooo...What're we gonna name this little guy?"

Estelle blinked in astonishment as she looked up at her husband.

"Huh?"

"Well we can't call the poor kid 'The baby' now, can we?" The swordsman asked playfully, smirking at her, "And you're better with naming things then me,"

Estelle knew that Yuri was referring to the fact that she, herself, had named the great spirits as well as the town of Aurnion. She couldn't hide the bright red blush that tainted her cheeks at the compliment and she glanced back down at her newborn son.

The pink-haired princess looked thoughtfully at the infant and sighed tiredly, "I...I kind of like the name Andras..."

Yuri cocked a questioning brow at his wife.

"Andras?"

Estelle nodded her head, smiling fondly down at her sweet babe.

"Yes. Andras means "warrior", and I thought that he reminded me of you and you were my bodyguard for awhile when we first met...my warrior."

Yuri pondered on that for a minute. He found it really sweet that his wife was naming their firstborn son after his good deeds, since him practically becoming her bodyguard was the glue to their relationship at the start, and he also thought that the name "Andras Lowell" rolled off the tongue pretty well...plus he couldn't think of any better names.

"Andras Lowell...I like it."

Little Andras shifted in his mother's arms before relaxing again.

Yuri decided to ask softly, "Wanna go and introduce Andras to his new family?"

Estelle just curled herself up to her husband, closed her eyes and gave a contented smile as she seemed to finally relax for the very first time tonight. She felt her heart swell with love for her babe but she also felt exhausted after everything she had to go through and she just wanted to get a bit of rest before showing off her beautiful little boy to her friends.

"Can...Can I sleep for a bit first? Please?"

Yuri chuckled softly and nodded.

"Sure."

Yuri settled into the bed to be beside his wife and him and Estelle cuddled up together, holding one another as they just tried to enjoy the romantic moment between them both. They smiled as they closed their eyes and seemed to both breathe sighs born of both contentment and relief in unison whilst they sunk into each others loving arms.

They could not have been happier to have been in each other's arms in that moment.

As if on cue, a loud whine of a sound broke the silence.

It had an annoyed yet frustrated undertone that might have well have been one of the cutest sounds ever to be heard by any living thing, yet the source of this adorable noise was unmistakable. Their suspicions were confirmed as they simultaneously glanced down to find that baby Andras had a seriously annoyed expression scrunching at his brand new, chubby face.

Estelle couldn't help but giggle at her son's expression.

"Aww! It looks like someone is sick of all the love, Yuri..."

Yuri reached over to really carefully tustle his son's new tufts of hair, messing it up playfully.

"Oh, knock it off pipsqueak. Let mama and daddy have some alone time huh?"

* * *

**A/N: Heres the introduction of little Andras.**

**I hope you guys like this chapter, I put a lot of fluff in this.**

**Only two more chapters to go.**

**-Chloemcg **


	9. The newest member of Brave Vesperia

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

All was quiet as the group of Brave Vesperia, minus Yuri and Estelle, stood outside the door leading into the infirmary.

The group were quite bored and had been waiting for what felt like an eternity —they just stood around and waited for a sign, any sign, that someone would come out soon and let them know that everything was alright. They had been informed that the infiltrators had finally been dragged off to the dungeons where they were to be interrogated and sentenced for their kidnapping and abduction plot, but they also were informed that Estellise had been left really exhausted due to all the stress she had gone through while in labour and the labour itself.

It was after hearing this that Rita had made an attempt to march down to the dungeon herself and burn the three guys into cinders for daring to try and harm her bestie.

The genius mage had to be physically restrained by Judith and Raven, Patty and Karol tried to help but had to resort to trying to talk her down considering they were rather too short and lacked the strength to actually do much. It was after a few minutes of doing this that Rita finally stopped and decided to just keep waiting, even though she planned on charging down there at a later date.

And she would be vicious in her pursuit.

The group kept waiting with building anticipation.

It felt like a whole eternity had passed until someone finally emerged from within.

It was Yuri.

"Yuri!" Karol exclaimed, "Is Estelle okay!?"

Yuri placed his finger to his own lips in a shushing motion, trying to get them to quiet down and refrain from shouting so much, and he opened the door to invite everyone else into the room.

"Hey, guys," He whispered softly with a cheerful smile, "C'mon in and meet the newest member of Brave Vesperia."

The master swordsman gave a gesture with his arm as he held the door open with the left side of his body and the light from inside the room cut through the darkness of the hallway like an axe slicing its way cleanly through wood.

Even though the light from inside the infirmary was dim, it was still bright enough for the hallway.

Raven, Patty, Karol, Judith and Rita practically all flooded into the room like a tidal wave flowing violently through a large creek since they could hardly contain their excitement as they all had the _biggest _smiles ever to be seen.

As the group filed into the room, they thought about all of what was happening.

They were finally meeting the child that Estellise had been carrying inside her for all of those long months. They wondered what the infant would be like, if it were to be a boy like Yuri then it would probably act more like him as it got older but it would probably also be just as kind and painfully selfless as Estelle was. They also wondered if they would grow to have a mischievous streak or anything?

What would the baby even look like?

Who would it take after more?

They didn't know, the thoughts were quite thrilling and the possibilities were endless.

It felt like an year flew by before they finally reached Estelle's bed and the group were all met with a sight that would melt any heart.

Estelle was lying in bed with their son still cradled in her arms, her eyes gazing down at her slumbering child sweetly with adoration pouring from every pore of her being. Her eyes filled with tears and her cheeks were reddened with tear streaks. She had what was probably the universes biggest smile ever recorded as she looked up at her friends.

Everyone appeared starstruck as they slowly approached, as if they couldn't believe what was happening.

They all flocked to the side of the bed and leaned in to look at the baby.

Baby Andras was still and silent with the exception of his soft breathing, he had his eyes shut tight and his little nose made huffing sounds as he sniffed in and out. He just snuggled in his little cocoon of blankets and relaxed in his mother's warm and protective embrace as he inhaled and exhaled so quietly that the sounds of the boy's breathing was practically nonexistent.

Every single pair of eyes watered (except Raven's) when they fell upon the sweet newborn.

A choir of compliments blended together.

"Awwww, look at him..."

"He be as cute as a cuttlefish!"

"So sweet..."

Raven decided to make his own comment while folding his arms across his chest, "Huh...I've seen uglier little nugge-OWWW!"

Before the old man could call the infant a "nugget", he was silenced immediately due to receiving an abrupt smack to the head courtesy of Rita. She had a look on her face that could have sheered the skin off of even the strongest of human beings, which would have looked way more intimidating were it not for the crimson blush lines forming on her cheeks.

Even the top of her head bristled with unbridled fury.

Raven ducked his head in between his shoulders as he flinched away from the enraged inventor genius mage. He was familiar with his teammates whacking him and punishing him for saying the occasional stupid thing and he couldn't help but glare dryly in response to it —he even clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, even if he felt a spike of fear run through him.

Rita's red hot temper simmered down quick as her eyes swelled with tears as she leaned forwards to look at the newborn infant being held by Estellise and cooed as she reached a finger out towards him. Everyone saw the little boy's face seemed to tighten as he seemed to finally sense that there were more people around and he gave a disgruntled little noise.

"H-He's so cute that it's not scientifically possible...!" Rita squeed softly.

Andras' face scrunched up but he didn't do much else as he just lay in his mother's arms, snuggling up to her as closely as possible. He had both of his small hands clenched into tight little fists as he rested them on his front, making a tiny sleepy sound, as he appeared to relax just a bit.

"Awwww," Judith giggled, "He is so endearing."

"Aye. He's darling!" Patty agreed as she stood on her toes in order to peer over the bed railing to get a glimpse of the newborn.

"Um...Estelle, Yuri?"

Yuri and Estelle tore their gazes away from their very young son to look at the mage in the room.

"What is it?"

Rita looked down at herself as she started to twiddle her thumbs anxiously, she bit her lower lip and tried not to show how nervous she was to ask such a forward question.

"Ummm...I just wanted to ask if I could be the godmother?"

Both Estelle and Yuri looked to each other as they hadn't thought about who should be their child's godmother or godfather. They hadn't given it much thought since they had been so busy just trying to get used to the idea of being parents in the first place, but they thought that if anyone deserved the honour of being the godmother then it would be Rita. She risked everything she loved to save Estellise when she was being used for her power and was even willing to blow up a Blastia to rescue her.

Estelle and Yuri both looked back at Rita and the former gave her best friend a sincere smile.

"Of course you can, Rita..."

"What about the rest of us then?" Judith asked.

Yuri shrugged nonchalantly.

"The rest of you guys can be the kid's honorary aunts and uncles."

"Well, just be prepared. With a godmother like her I'm sure that the kid will be a devourer of books by the time he turns two." Raven warned although judging by the smirk on his face he was clearly joking...but it sounded like he was only half joking.

Karol spoke up next, deciding to change the subject to avoid fireballs being thrown in the infirmary by the now-agitated mage.

"Soooo what're you going to name him?"

Yuri answered the question in a soft voice, "We decided to call him Andras."

"Andras? Doesn't that mean "warrior"? It is a rather appropriate name..." Judith said with a thoughtful face.

Rita leaned forwards and rubbed her new godson's head gently whilst trying to let Raven's little jab roll off her shoulder like a small wave rolling over in an ocean tide. She hadn't really seen many babies in her life nor had she been really interested in them until now but she could feel as though her heart was bursting for this little baby boy who looked so frail and fragile.

He looked as though a single touch could shatter him like porcelain.

She felt his small soft tufts of hair tickle the palm of her hand as she stroked his little exposed head and she smiled a sweet smile.

"Andras...I think he's lovely."

Yuri and Estelle smiled at this.

They knew that the Brave Vesperia guild would shelter and protect their little Andras and everyone would love them almost as much as they did themselves, this boy was certain to be spoiled when he got older and they never doubted how much their baby was loved since they could certainly see that this was love at first sight as far as everyone else was concerned.

Karol, Patty, Rita, Raven, Judith, Ba'aul, and Repede would certainly love and protect him.

As long as Brave Vesperia was around, Yuri and Estelle knew that their son would be fine.

* * *

**A/N: Heres where the rest of team Brave Vesperia meets baby Andras.**

**It seems that Rita has a soft spot for her new godson.**

**And everyone else seems to have fallen head over heels for the newborn too.**

**Next chapter is the last chapter and I hope you guys have enjoyed.**

**-Chloemcg **


	10. Shine like a star

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Tales of vesperia, the rights to the characters and everything else belong to their rightful owners.**

**The new star of Vesperia**

* * *

Karol, Raven, Rita, Judith and Patty all stayed in the room for quite some time (maybe an hour at most) until they decided to officially retire for the night and try to catch up on some sleep since it was still very late and in the early hours of the morning.

Estelle also finally gave in to her exhaustion and feel asleep soon after they had left.

Yuri was left wide awake and sitting on a nearby stool that he'd pulled up so he could sit beside his wife's bed, just thinking. His hands were clasped together and his head was so low that his long hair hung like thick reeds from his scalp and concealed his expression. His eyes were closed and had dark circles spread beneath his eyelids, they refused to allow him to blink right now, even though he was beyond exhausted.

He sighed sleepily, trying to relax so he could finally get some sleep.

But he struggled to even close his eyes after all that happened tonight.

It was as if that rush of adrenaline refused to die down.

"Mmmmm..."

Yuri's ears pricked when he heard some soft moans and groans coming from the main occupant of the bed next to him. The pinkette princess breathed softly as she leaned her head back against the pillow and she had a small pinch that caused her face to contort only slightly, she seemed a teeny bit restless as she slumbered.

Her sword/axe-wielding husband reacted almost immediately.

He leaned over the bed and planted a gentle kiss atop Estelle's forehead, smiling sweetly down at her as she just continued to sleep. Her face relaxed within seconds as she heaved a quiet breath of easement. She smiled gently and her eyelids stopped creasing so much. Her whole body became limp with relaxation as she seemed to sense her husband's presence and she tightened her grip subconsciously on the babe she held.

Yuri was thrilled that she was getting the rest she needed and deserved because she had been through a lot tonight.

If anyone had earned her rest, it would be her.

He couldn't help but be reminded of how beautiful she looked when she slept...

What he didn't notice, though, was that a certain canine companion had slipped into the room.

Repede couldn't hold back his curiosity of all the happenings of the night.

He trotted cautiously over towards the bed, only stopping when he reached the side of it. He started leaning in slowly until he saw both Estelle and a bundle wrapped in blankets. It had pink skin, rosy pink cheeks and had a unique tuft of hair on its head; it was strange. Like Yuri, it had black/purple hair (albeit a shade lighter) with pink highlights at the top and at the back of his head.

The canine sniffed curiously at the babe, eyes narrowing with confusion.

What was this...?

It seemed like a human pup of some description...

In the meantime, Yuri just smirked at his canine partner's curiosity.

He could see that Repede was probably going to get attached to the boy quite quickly knowing that he had an infinity for children —especially babies. Repede always loved being around children and put up with their antics with little to not complaints whatsoever. They could pull on his tail and yank his ears and he'd hardly even budge.

The blue-furred dog wagged his lightning-bolt shaped tail exuberantly as he craned his head to study the human pup closer, sniffing softly at him.

This small whelp looked fragile, but it held a certain strength...

Repede didn't make much noise as he kept sniffing but the corners of his dog lips did curl upwards and he even made a quiet and loving huff though the nostrils of his big black nose. He liked children and he also loved really young children, so seeing his master's child filled his canine heart with compassion aplenty. It even made Repede wonder if this was how his own father, Lambert, felt when he was supervising him when he, himself, was a pup.

Either way, he clutched his pipe in his fangs and gave a contented whine.

Yuri watched the small infant in his wife's arms and smiled warmly at him, lost in his thoughts.

The former rogue was in a state of perpetual shock but was still overwhelmingly happy that his son was born healthy and safely, he was also happy that the guards had noticed those intruders because they would have probably taken the baby the instant he was born. However, Yuri would have searched the whole world over to find his little Andras and would have no qualms about tearing the perpetrators limb-from-limb.

He kept wondering whether or not this was all one very realistic dream that he'd wake up from any second now.

Repede, after studying and interacting with the newborn, decided to settle down and lay on the floor beside his master. He gently lowered himself towards and ground and settled laying on his side with his fluffy white underbelly exposed. He rested the side of his head against the ground next to Yuri's feet.

"Repede..." Yuri started to speak, breaking the silence, "Do you think I can do this? I just can't believe that I've finally got a family..."

**"Woof! Rouf, woof!"** Repede abruptly snapped his head up in attention and barked sternly yet quietly, clearly trying not to disturb the sleeping occupants in the room.

Yuri hung his head and smiled as if understanding his partner's yips and barks.

"Yeah. You're right, I've already got a family in Brave Vesperia..."

Repede didn't make another sound but instead just raised one of his hind legs to scratch himself behind the ear, giving a rather dismissive huff through his nose, as though to communicate that he couldn't believe that his master didn't think that his guild didn't count as family.

Yuri almost rolled his eyes.

He assumed that Repede was just going through a grumpy phase right now.

The swordsman and his dog jumped a bit when a sudden sound broke the silence and they both glanced over to the bed where Estelle lay with the newborn infant she held. Little Andras was apparently wide awake now and shifting and moving quite a lot in his mother's arms as he managed to remove both of his teeny arms from their blanketed binds and reach towards Yuri's direction.

Yuri knew instantly what was going on.

"Awww...What's the matter, little one? You want daddy to hold ya?" He asked, cooing softly.

The baby responded by whimpering some more and continued reaching out for his father.

Yuri responded with a quiet chuckle as he reached over, taking his son from Estelle's arms, and situating the infant in his own arms. It was once that was done that he pulled the blankets his bundle was wrapped up in and proceeded to tuck them around his son so he could be better swaddled and be wrapped just like a burrito.

"Heh! Okay, okay, alright, I've gotcha..."

Yuri could only stare down at his son and smile a warm smile, his heart being overcome with a certain warmth that he couldn't even describe.

"There. Happy now?"

The response he got was his teeny son snuffling and snuggling closely to his chest.

Yuri marvelled his teeny son and noticed that his tiny head fit perfectly in the palm of his hand even with the blankets swaddling him. It was as though his very hand was made to hold this teeny life and his heart kept on swelling as an ocean of compassion spilled forth and spread throughout his body. He was imbued with this new sense of purpose and suddenly wanted to do nothing more than to help protect and raise the small bundle currently cradled in his arms.

His son.

His little Andras.

His was snapped from his reverie when he felt a sharp sting of pain from his scalp.

The infant child in his arms reached a chubby arm upwards and managed to seize a hold of Yuri's hair and yanked it. The man winced when he felt the feeble yet sharp tugs of his hair but he smirked at the same time, he couldn't help it, he liked how strong their son was getting even at such a young age —there was also the irrefutable fact that he was so adorable.

The ex-rogue chuckled as he tried to gently tug that lock of hair free from his small son's clasp, a clasp that was shockingly strong for someone so small.

"Okay, ya little rascal. That's enough of pulling on daddy's hair for today."

Andras made a sound of displeasure and his little face bunched up in what could have easily been interpreted as annoyance.

Clearly he didn't like the idea of his playtime being wrecked.

Yuri smirked down at his son.

"...Don't look at me like that, kid. I'd much prefer it if you fall asleep right now,"

He was very amused by the little face his son made.

But, as the minutes passed, the child simply refused to fall asleep.

Little Andras had his teeny eyes open, although by a fraction, revealing the fact that he had inherited his mother's eyes. Yuri felt his eyes swell even more when he saw his wife's eyes on this frail and fragile-looking little boy who may as well be the size of a child's teddy bear.

He was so small it was ridiculous.

The swordsman with the dark long hair kept holding his son in hopes that he'd just fall asleep eventually so he, too, could finally get the sleep his body craved for —he'd been through a lot tonight, as well as Estellise, and they needed the sleep badly after he had fought off enemy-upon-enemy and she gave birth. His eyes just stung from lack of sleep and he fretted about each time he'd dowse off but he really wants to at the same time.

He hoped his boy would give in and get some sleep too...

But no such luck.

Yuri commented as he shook his head.

"Not even a full hour old and you're already as stubborn as your mother."

He sighed as he cradled the teeny newborn infant in his arms reclined in his seat, his mind a haze of thoughts. How did he wind up in this position? Was this boy really truly his? Could he really be a decent father to this little boy? It wasn't that he wasn't excited, on the contrary, but he couldn't help but feel scared of the whole idea.

The sarcastic, wisecracking, sardonic, rogue swordsman known as Yuri Lowell...a father...!

The very idea almost made him snicker to himself out of how he thought such an idea was sort of ridiculous.

As if sensing his father's doubt, the infant started to whine.

"Oh! Heeeey..." Yuri shushed gently, bouncing the small infant in his arms, "shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh..."

Repede leaned forwards and gave the infant a delicate lick across the cheek.

Andras shuddered when he felt the long tongue drag up against his chubby cheek but almost instantly relaxed when he heard his father's soothing voice. He whimpered and sniffled as he curled right up in his dad's strong arms and placed his ear against his chest.

Yuri looked down at the baby incredulously.

What was he doing?

It hit him like a ton of bricks.

For several months, this child's lullaby had been Estelle's heartbeat so perhaps he was searching for his father's heartbeat...? Perhaps it could help in soothing him so he wouldn't wake up his mother, it was definitely worth a try.

Both him and the newborn mewling babe could maybe benefit from this.

Yuri gently raised his son up a bit and situated him so he could listen to his heartbeat a little bit better. Andras responded by gently nuzzling his cheek into his chest and quieting down as he curled up into a ball against the master axe/swordsman's chest and he was silent within moments, he cooed and sniffled silently. He seemed to grow more and more quiet the longer he listened to his father's beating heart.

The man with the dark purple/ebony black hair held his teeny son tight and close as he smirked softly and glanced down at the boy with heavily-lidded eyes.

The baby boy with the purple and pink hair gurgled softly as he lay in Yuri's arms.

"Atta boy, little buddy,"

The swaddled being wrapped in the blankets kicked his little legs up and cooed.

Yuri exhaled through his nose and decided that it was time that he had a little heart-to-heart chat with his boy and, even though he was very much aware that his boy was only just born, he hoped that he could just share this moment with the infant and take this moment to make a bond as father and son. It was still such a strange title for him, being a "father", that he knew would take awhile for him to get used to but he felt that it wouldn't take long until he did ultimately accept it.

"Lemme tell ya a few things about the world you're gonna grow up in."

Baby Andras just lay in his father's arms and looked up silently and intently, as though paying attention.

Yuri smirked at his boy's attentiveness.

"First off, I'm your dad and there's your mother." He took a moment to point to Estelle's sleeping form before returning his gaze to the babe in his arms but not before he shuffled little Andras into one arm in order to do so. "You are apart of the Brave Vesperia guild and, when you get bigger, I'm gonna teach ya all ya need to know."

The swordsman took a moment before he exhumed a solemn breath that came from the very bottom of his throat.

The mood suddenly became sullen and somber.

"I'm not gonna lie, kid, but daddy's done some...pretty bad stuff. Heck, sometimes I wonder whether I deserved to create life after destroying lives, and sometimes I wonder whether or not I deserve everything I've got..." Yuri retained a serious look on his face, "...But I promise that I won't let any harm come to you or your mother, I'll protect the both of you for as long as I can."

"Wahhh...?" Andras made what Yuri could have sworn sounded like a inquisitive sound.

The man smirked softly at the teeny boy.

"That's right, bud, I promise."

"Huff, huff, puff...Y-Yuri...?"

Yuri turned to face the door when he heard some quiet breathing. He saw that none other than Flynn had entered the room and was pressing his right side quite heavily against the doorframe, wearing a look that was full of exhaustion but also had traces of frustration and irritation so faint that if someone who didn't know the knight as well as Yuri did then it would have been missed easily.

He had a feeling he knew what was bothering his friend.

"Having trouble with those three?" He asked quietly.

Yuri couldn't help but feel a tad guilty about not being able to help his friend with everything but knew his family needed him to stay put for now.

Flynn nodded tersely in response to the question but he couldn't keep his eyes off of the bundle that was cradled in Yuri's arms.

He couldn't quite see what the babe looked like but he instantly felt a bit of apprehension that kept him immobilised and stuck on the spot where he stood with his eyes as wide as saucers —his eyes hardened like stone after a few seconds when he took notice of his friend's face and how bruised and battered it appeared.

He folded his arms across his chest and tapped his fingers huffily against the metal sleeves of his armour.

He changed the subject.

"You really should get some medical care, Yuri,"

Yuri just stared at his friend with a plaintive expression.

Nevertheless Flynn elaborated.

"You're in no condition to stay up this late, that blow to your temple is swelling up."

Yuri shrugged.

"Hey, this is nothing I can't handle."

Flynn said nothing and wore a stone cold expression on his face as he strode further into the room, making sure his armoured shoes didn't make too much noise with each step, and proceeded to touch his childhood friend's swollen temple a little and watched as Yuri winced.

"I'm sorry. You were saying...?"

Yuri's face was starting to bruise and swell up and his cheeks were really starting to sting, but he rolled his eyes to himself.

He knew that Flynn (nor Estelle for that matter) would let him try and get off without having his battered face looked at by a doctor or some other health professional and would keep hounding him until he did. It annoyed him to no end how they felt the need to lecture him about not taking too much care of himself and treating him as though he were a stubborn child.

These frustrations only increased since he was holding his son in his arms.

"Huuuungh..." He sighed dramatically, throwing his head back to look at the ceiling, "FIIIIINE, I'll get it looked at..."

The leader of the imperial knights decided to ignore his friend's childish theatrics and changed the subject so he could prevent himself from yelling at him. He hung his head and shook it with a small knowing smirk pulling at his lips.

"Trust a child of yours to be born in the middle of a break-in," He said.

A short moment of silence passed the two childhood friends by.

"Wanna hold him?" Yuri asked, holding the bundle out towards his knight friend.

Flynn's smirk dropped and he swallowed in apprehension.

Him?

Hold a baby?

Certainly he might have looked like the sort of guy who would like children and he did, there was no mistake about it, but he just felt really uncomfortable around toddlers and infants. Just being in the same room as them made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. His stomach dropped at the mere thought...but then he cast another glance to Yuri; he saw how exhausted his friend looked and had to wonder.

He wanted to say "no" and refuse the offer given to him since he didn't feel very comfortable around very young children and wasn't good with them like his friend was...but he found himself holding the baby boy before he could even say another word either way.

Words couldn't describe how awkward he felt.

"Be good for your uncle Flynn, okay, kid?"

Andras made no sound as he squirmed in Flynn's arms as the knight holding him tried to accommodate him.

It took a moment for him to do just that and he felt a foreign warmth swirling within his chest when he held the bundle which was heavier than he'd ever expected. He also felt this warmth gather in his cheeks as he studied the teeny face of his friend's son. He noticed a few attributes he'd inherited from his dad such as his nose and the way his brow quirked, he was almost a spitting image of his father, but with some hints of his mother with his hair and (what little he could see as the babe could hardly open them) eyes.

"Errr..." Flynn looked down at the bundle he was holding and smiled awkwardly, "Hi there, little one..."

The babe just yawned and fell asleep, promptly sinking into the depths of slumber within a shocking two and a half seconds and Flynn was reminded of how Yuri looked when he slept. It was uncannily similar. This caused the knight to be both impressed and stunned since he knew that Yuri was a heavy sleeper (he slept like a rock unless he were to overhear something that concerned someone he cared about) and could possibly fall sleep the instant his head were to hit the pillow and sleep through a day.

Flynn just sighed as he shook his head.

"I swear you're already taking after your father."

The commandant could still hardly believe that this was all happening.

This innocent child was the son of his very best friend and the princess, this was the product of the true love of two people he never saw being together in a million years. He almost felt just as shocked and as dumbstruck as when her royal highness Estellise had announced her betrothal an to Yuri, he still couldn't bring himself to believe it entirely.

But he had worry and doubt plague his mind, too, just like it always did.

How were Yuri and Estellise going to raise the tiny heir to the throne? What was going to happen with this precious infant? Were more gangs like the "Poisoned Basilisk Fangs" going to make an attempt at kidnapping him? Was this boy going to be in for a life of threatening to be held hostage or something...just like his mother before him?

The commandant of the knights couldn't deny that the very thought of this little one being used as some tool made his stomach clench uncomfortably.

"I...I won't let anything happen to him...he's too precious," Flynn thought to himself, a heavy blush overcoming his facial features, "I'd rather die then let anyone get their hands on him..."

Flynn turned to face Yuri and saw him smirking at him.

There was a new tiredness to him.

It was as if his exhaustion from the nights events had finally come to hit him full force. He didn't say anything as he watched Flynn, still carrying Andras in his arms, slid down with his back to the wall and sat on the ground next to him.

It appeared that adrenaline rush had finally wore off and had taken its toll.

Flynn kept holding the slumbering newborn and he was feeling more and more comfortable with holding his "nephew" as time gone by. He hadn't even noticed how much time was passing anymore since he was so entranced by the bundle he was holding. It was like holding a warm little loaf of bread. The knight opened his mouth to comment on how cute the boy was.

However he wasn't too surprised when he found that his friend had slumped forwards with his head resting heavily on the surface of the table and light snores coming from him.

He smirked and shook his head.

Somethings never changed.

"...It's been a long night, maybe Yuri's got the right idea." Flynn thought.

The blonde-haired commandant shut his eyes and started reclining against the wall. He closed his eyes and let loose a heavy sigh, still keeping a tight and protective hold of the slumbering babe quietly snuggled in his arms to make sure he didn't drop him whilst sleeping; he'd never forgive himself if he dropped baby Andras by accident. He cradled the bundle in his arms and soon followed his friends example by falling straight to sleep.

But what Flynn didn't realise was that Yuri wasn't completely asleep yet.

Yuri strained to open his eyes, fighting back against the sleep that started to claim him, and he sent a cursory glance over to his slumbering knight friend and the child in his arms. Seeing that Flynn was fast asleep was heart-warming enough but seeing his boy curled up in his arms made th sight even sweeter. He started reaching over to gingerly rub his sleeping boy's head, feeling the soft yet new wisps of dark purple/pink tufts tickle the palm of his hand.

This boy...his son...was go to be loved so much by the Brave Vesperia guild.

He was, after all, the newest star of Vesperia...

Yuri's eyes grew heavier and heavier and his breathing deepened as sleep was beginning to get harder and harder to fight back against.

He rested his head back against the wall and finally let eyelids clamp over his eyeballs.

The new father muttered as he finally surrendered to peaceful sleep.

"Goodnight, Andras..."

* * *

**A/N: Here is the final chapter of "The new star of Vesperia", I am happy I got this fic finished just before September.**

**I tried to make it as fluffy and the characters as close to what they should be as possible. I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed this fic, everyone, like how I enjoyed writing it.**

**Don't forget to review and fave everyone!**

**-Chloemcg**


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